The saga surrounding the Milwaukee Election Commission and its bungled Aug. 11 primary night operation took a new turn this week. City officials finally committed to a date to release highly sought public records originally requested by the Dairyland Sentinel.
Controversy started on election night when a central count download team mistakenly exported audit logs instead of election results from five of the city’s nine high-speed tabulators. That mistake caused a massive delay in reporting Milwaukee’s absentee ballot totals.
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Seeking immediate transparency, the Sentinel filed an open records request on Aug. 14. We asked for primary source materials from that night. Specifically, the request sought completed Inspectors’ Statements, known as Form EL-104, along with any preliminary forms documenting ballot reconciliation or equipment problems. (Our full request is posted, below)
Delays and the nature of the errors also quickly drew the attention of state lawmakers. State Rep. Dave Maxey, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, sent a pointed letter demanding accountability for the central count failures. He previously warned that the MEC executive director should resign if the recurring problems cannot be corrected.
Despite clear public interest and legislative scrutiny, the MEC stonewalled our records request. The commission ignored us for 10 days until this publication sent a direct follow-up inquiry.
When city officials finally responded on Aug. 24, they issued a stark warning that processing the request could take several weeks to months. They also indicated it could cost the publication money. That timeline effectively threatened to push the release of vital primary records past the November general election.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission began considering a formal letter to the MEC regarding the withheld records, a potential intervention scheduled for discussion at the WEC’s upcoming meeting on Monday, Aug. 31.
Now there is apparently is breakthrough, though the MEC bypassed Dairyland Sentinel entirely to make it.
The MEC still has not responded directly to our publication regarding the fulfillment of our specific records request. However, a letter sent to the WEC today , obtained and published on X by CBS 58 reporter A.J. Bayatpour, shows the MEC officially admitting a team led by the deputy director was responsible for the download error.
Crucially, the letter establishes a firm timeline for release of the records. The MEC promised the state it will make copies of the audit logs, EL-104s and Precincts Processed reports available on the city’s website by next Friday, Sept. 4.
This list of documents closely aligns with the Sentinel’s initial request. We explicitly asked for the completed EL-104s and related documentation. The MEC will additionally release the audit logs, which WEC staff had recommended they do in a drafted letter.
While the imminent release is a victory for election transparency, the MEC’s handling of the situation remains troubling. The commission is still not operating in compliance with the spirit of Wisconsin’s open records law. These are straightforward documents that realistically could have been located, scanned and posted online within minutes. Instead, it took weeks of public pressure, a legislative inquiry and the looming threat of state regulatory intervention for the MEC to announce plans to eventually make public some of the public documents we requested.
We will continue to report on this developing story, and once the Milwaukee Election Commission complies with our full request, we will compare those documents with whatever the MEC eventually posts online.
Our original records request
August 14, 2026
Paulina Gutiérrez
Executive Director,Milwaukee Election Commission
VIA EMAIL
City Hall, Room 501
200 E. Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202RE: Public Records Request, August 11, 2026 Partisan Primary Central Count Records
Ms. Gutiérrez:
Pursuant to Wisconsin’s Public Records Law, Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31-19.39, I am requesting electronic copies of records relating to the City of Milwaukee’s Central Count operation for the Aug. 11, 2026, Partisan Primary.
Specifically, I request:
- Every completed Inspectors’ Statement, Form EL-104, associated with Milwaukee Central Count for the Aug. 11 election, including all pages, continuation pages, attachments, amendments, corrections and supplemental materials.
- Any preliminary, interim, working or predecessor version of an Inspectors’ Statement or comparable form that was submitted, circulated, transmitted, retained, reviewed, relied upon or maintained by the Milwaukee Election Commission, the Central Count chief election inspector or other Central Count election officials.
- Any preliminary or interim forms completed, submitted or filed by a Central Count chief election inspector, including forms documenting ballot reconciliation, discrepancies, ballot totals, tabulator totals, incidents, unusual events, challenges, rejected ballots, equipment problems, seal information or other matters later incorporated into or relevant to the final Inspectors’ Statement.
This request is intentionally not limited to the final or certified EL-104. It seeks records created or maintained during the process of documenting and reconciling the Central Count operation, provided those materials constitute “records” under Wis. Stat. § 19.32(2). That statute broadly includes written, printed, electronic and other materials that have been created or kept by an authority in connection with official business.
The election statutes specifically contemplate the creation and preservation of these records. Under Wis. Stat. § 7.52(4)(d), upon completion of the tally sheets, election inspectors “shall immediately complete the inspectors’ statement.” Wisconsin administrative rules identify the inspectors’ statement as Form EL-104 and require the chief election inspector to certify on that statement that the chief holds current certification. See Wis. Admin. Code § EL 11.01.
Wis. Stat. § 7.52 also requires election officials conducting the central count to make a full and accurate return of the votes cast on the prescribed tally sheets. Wisconsin law further provides for the retention of the original inspectors’ statement by the municipal clerk. See Wis. Stat. § 7.51(5)(a)4.
These records are requested under Wisconsin’s Public Records Law. Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(a) provides that, except as otherwise provided by law, a requester has the right to inspect a record and to make or receive a copy of a record. Under Wis. Stat. § 19.35(4)(a), an authority must respond to a records request “as soon as practicable and without delay” by either fulfilling the request or notifying the requester of its determination.
Please provide the records electronically by email whenever possible. If records responsive to this request are maintained electronically, I am requesting them in their existing electronic format rather than as printed copies.
Because these records are being requested for news-gathering purposes by Dairyland Sentinel and concern the administration of a Wisconsin election, I request that any permissible fees be waived or reduced in the public interest pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.35(3)(e).
If you anticipate any charge, please provide an estimate before incurring costs. Wisconsin law permits location fees only when the actual, necessary and direct cost of locating responsive records reaches the statutory threshold. See Wis. Stat. § 19.35(3)(c).
If any responsive record or portion of a record is withheld, please identify the specific record being withheld and provide the specific statutory or common-law basis for the denial. If only a portion of a record is subject to withholding, please redact that portion and provide the remainder.
If the Election Commission believes another City of Milwaukee office is the legal custodian of any responsive record, please identify that office and, if practicable, forward this request to the appropriate custodian.
Thank you. I look forward to your response as soon as practicable and without delay.
Brian Fraley
Publisher
Dairyland Sentinel
(262) 204-7059
Previously at Dairyland Sentinel
