The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
I have spent the past several weeks trying to obtain public election records from the Milwaukee Election Commission.
I want to be clear about what Dairyland Sentinel is seeking and why.
We are asking for public documents from Milwaukee’s Aug. 11 central count operation, including inspectors’ statements, reconciliation paperwork, incident records and other materials created as election workers dealt with problems that night.
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Milwaukee had a significant failure in reporting its absentee ballot results. Election workers mistakenly exported audit logs instead of election results from five of the city’s nine high-speed tabulators, contributing to a lengthy delay.
Mistakes happen. Unfortunately, they routinely happen at Milwaukee’s Central Count.
What matters next is transparency.
When something goes wrong, the public should be able to see the contemporaneous records, understand what happened and determine whether procedures or personnel need to be changed. Transparency allows problems to be identified and corrected. Delaying access to those records does the opposite. It gives people more reason to question an election system that depends heavily on public confidence. Seeking these documents and the facts they will reveal is a matter of civic responsibility.
I have worked as a poll worker, an election night observer and a canvass monitor. Yes, I have also spent part of my career as a partisan campaign operative. That experience means I have a pretty good idea which documents matter and what they can tell us.
It also makes me recognize why the slow-walking of routine public election records is particularly troubling.
We are not looking for a predetermined conclusion. We want the documents.
If the records show a reasonable explanation, we will report that. If they identify mistakes or procedural failures, we will report those too. And if those mistakes can be corrected before the next election, as they must, everyone benefits.
Election transparency should not be treated as a partisan demand. It is part of competent election administration. Again, everyone benefits.
Fraley is the publisher of Dairyland Sentinel.
