Wisconsin Assembly elections chief wants to end Milwaukee central count

(The Center Square) – The head of the Wisconsin Assembly’s elections committee says he wants to do away with Milwaukee’s central count.

Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin, said that he looked in on the city’s central count during last week’s election and said that what he saw didn’t impress him.

"I was there [on Election Day] and they started counting pretty early this time, but it did not need to be done at central count,” Maxey said.

Maxey suggested that Milwaukee’s absentee ballots could, instead, be counted at the city’s polling places.

A central count is simply a single location where all of the absentee ballots are counted.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission says Milwaukee is one of 42 counties that are authorized to use a central count.

But Milwaukee’s central count is the state’s most famous because of its late night, or middle of the night ballot drops.

Maxey said collecting ballots at local polls but counting them at the central count office is extremely inefficient.

"When I went to different polling locations, I saw several people standing around waiting to do something," Maxey said.

Milwaukee’s election commission boss, however, says central count is absolutely necessary. She says it makes election day more efficient.

Maxey is also talking about another run at a new law that would allow local election clerks to count absentee ballots before election day.

He says the proposed Monday Count legislation will likely get another hearing in his committee this year.

The plan, which would allow local clerks to count absentee ballots the day before voters go to the polls, cleared the Assembly last session.

It, however, died in the Wisconsin Senate over fears that an early absentee ballot count could be used to cheat on election day.

Maxey said he’s heard from some voters who like the idea of an early count, but he’s also heard from some who don’t.