Milwaukee election officials are recounting nearly 31,000 ballots because of a tabulation issue.

A few hours after ballot counting began at 8:45 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, officials in Milwaukee Center County discovered there was a problem with the physical sealing of tabulating machines — “some doors had not been fully secured by senior election officials.” Milwaukee Election Commission He said in his statement:

All 13 of the machines involved are being reset out of an abundance of caution. Once the machines are reset, all 31,000 ballots will be re-evaluated in the machines.

The MEC’s ​​statement said the decision to recount the votes “was made in consultation with both Republican and Democratic officials.”

Absentee ballots are being recounted at the Central Count due to tabulation issue

An election official told Scripps News Milwaukee that the city of Milwaukee called on city employees to assist at the city’s Central Count location because of the recount.

The election official said the call to municipal employees was made around 17:00 local time on Tuesday.

The city now has an “influx” of deputies from different departments, including the fire, health and IT departments. Many new workers, including firefighters, were hired immediately based on the clothes they wore.

Between 30 and 40 city employees arrived to help, Scripps News Milwaukee has learned.

Election officials said this would delay the completion of election results in Milwaukee by several hours.

A statement from the Milwaukee Election Commission said: “This afternoon, Milwaukee Election Commission leadership was alerted to an issue with the tabulator doors being fully in place. Each machine has a door that must be locked and sealed. It appears some doors were not opened completely. “It was secured by the authorities.”

Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez is expected to provide an update to the media on this situation soon.

“The City of Milwaukee has no doubts about the integrity of the elections. However, in order to be completely transparent and eliminate any doubt, the MEC has decided to restart the tabulation process for all votes in the Central Count. This decision was made in 2013. Both Republican and As a result, the final count will be delayed. “We will keep the news media informed of any further updates regarding the accuracy of Milwaukee’s election results,” the Milwaukee Elections Commission said.

This story was first published by . Scripps News Milwaukee.