MADISON, Wis. (WFRV) – Election officials in Wisconsin will hold a post-election news conference at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to wrap up on Tuesday’s election.
WFRV Local 5 will stream that news conference above at 11:30 a.m. CT.
Wisconsin is one of seven states that, as of Wednesday morning, are too close to call. Former Vice President Joe Biden currently holds a lead in the Badger State by about 30,000 votes.
Early Wednesday morning, Wisconsin’s chief election official Meagan Wolfe issued a statement, saying:
“Wisconsin’s counting and reporting of unofficial results has gone according to law. Our municipal and county clerks have worked tirelessly throughout the night to make sure every valid ballot is counted and reported accurately. Those unofficial results are available on the county clerks’ websites.
“Today, the Wisconsin Elections Commission staff will be standing ready to assist clerks as they start the process of triple-checking the results. This includes randomly selecting 5% of reporting units for voting equipment audits which must occur before results are certified as required by law on December 1.”
According to state statute, following the November general election, the Wisconsin Elections Commission is required to direct an audit of each voting system used in the state to determine the error rate of the system in counting ballots that are validly cast by electors.
The audit consists of two independent hand-tallies of ballots tabulated by electronic voting systems. The results of the hand-count are verified against the results report produced by the voting system.
“The purpose of the audit is to ensure that voting equipment used in Wisconsin is accurately counting ballots according to federal standards, which is 1 error in 500,000 ballots,” the Wisconsin Elections Commission says. “It is not to verify the accuracy of voting equipment prior to certification of the results. If a piece of equipment did not meet standards (which has never happened since audits began in 2006), the Elections Commission could order the municipality or county with defective equipment to take remedial action (such as purchasing new equipment).”
As of 9:45 a.m., Wisconsin’s overall results are waiting on Richland County’s results to be fully reported. According to the Associated Press, Trump holds a nine-point lead over Biden in the southern county.
After Wisconsin polls closed at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the state appeared to lean toward Pres. Trump as the smaller, northern counties began reporting results. Overnight, Biden gained a small lead in Wisconsin after results from Milwaukee and Brown counties filtered in.
Despite this, the race remains too close to call.
