Wisconsin Election Update: At Least 1 of 5 “Human Errors” in Milwaukee Democrat Primary Caught on Camera

The City of Milwaukee has faced rightful criticism of how they conducted the 2026 Democrat primary on Tuesday evening.

As The Gateway Pundit has reported, there was a discrepancy with 5 out of 9 ES&S DS950 high-speed central scanners when election workers allegedly exported “audit logs” instead of “results,” leaving Wisconsin wondering who would be the gubernatorial candidate for the Democrats.

Francesca Hong, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, who was favored by 22 points in the last polls before voting and in five polls with an average margin of Hong +22.8 points, lost in the late-night count to the establishment candidate, David Crowley by just over 3,200 votes.

Last 5 Wisconsin Governor Democratic Primary Polls:

State Navigate: 🔵 Hong +22
Public Policy Polling: 🔵 Hong +18
Marquette University: 🔵 Hong +25
State Navigate: 🔵 Hong +29
Public Policy Polling: 🔵 Hong +20

Results (88% Reporting): 🟡Crowley +0.5 pic.twitter.com/FRqVIOiVT1

— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) August 12, 2026

A camera crew for CBS58 Milwaukee caught at least one moment when the “audit log” was exported, rather than the results.

In the photo, you can see “Export Audit Log” written at the top of the menu and a pop-up window that says “Please Wait… Exporting Audit Log”.  Timestamps on the machine show that this occurred at 10:16 p.m. on August 11, 2026.

A separate image shows the proper menu for selecting either Configuration, Results, or Setup.

SCOOP: Our cameras caught the moment Milwaukee elections staff screwed up.

While the city Election Commission says there was no way to see the wrong info was on the USB sticks bc it’s encrypted, it sure looks like someone could’ve caught what they were mistakenly exporting… pic.twitter.com/sXlOp6e5He

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) August 13, 2026

Alexander Shur, a writer for Votebeat, posted on X that, “Somebody clicked the wrong button on several tabulators.  They did it right in front of me.  It was a bad mistake, but it was a simple one.  Those same officials clicked the right button on those same tabulators later on, also in front of me.”

The Gateway Pundit reached out to Shur to inquire as to why no observers objected to the audit log’s being uploaded instead of results.  He said that the screen is pretty small, suggesting it was difficult to see, and that the photos are zoomed in quite a bit.

Shur also posted photos on X of the initial download of election results, as well as the second download later that evening.  The first post from the initial count shows at least nine people in the room.  The second post from the later attempt shows just two people.

In an article for votebeat.org, Shur wrote that an issue in the 2024 presidential election, Milwaukee recounted 31,000 ballots a second time because staff didn’t properly lock the doors on the tabulator, as was policy.  This left the machines on/off switch exposed, but more importantly, a slot for USB drives.

This mistake in 2024 led then-city election chief Claire Woodall to implement a process “to prevent future such errors” by having “a single official extracting results from each tabulator while accompanied by other staff.”  This would have likely caught the audit log error, as staff observers would have overseen the extraction.

This is the third time that Milwaukee has had significant issues involving USB devices since 2020.

In 2020, then-city election chief Claire Woodall allegedly forgot a USB device and had to return to retrieve it.  This was one of the circumstances that led to the infamous email from the Elections Group’s Ryan Chew telling Woodall that she had “a flair for drama” and that she delivered “just the margin needed at 3:00 a.m.”

In 2024, the city had the above-mentioned discrepancy in which a USB slot was left exposed.  A USB slot is an extremely vulnerable part of the election machine.  Any hacker with access could quickly upload malware simply by inserting a USB device for a brief moment.

And then, in 2026, election workers failed to upload “results,” and instead uploaded “audit logs.”  The results of the election led to the victory of a candidate who was polling an average of 22 points ahead of the eventual winner, David Crowley.

Update on Previous Reporting:

On Wednesday, The Gateway Pundit reported on the “human error” that impacted 5 out of 9 ES&S DS950 scanners at the city’s central count.  According to the ES&S manual, election workers would have had to knowingly select “Export Audit Logs” rather than “Export Results.”

The manual, from 2012, is not accurate, however.  Updated software on the ES&S DS950 now prompts users to select “Export Files” in the same place—as the first selection—instead of “Export Results.”  The next menu has an option to select which files, including “Results,” to export.