MILWAUKEE – Election officials in Milwaukee are re-counting about 31,000 ballots because of a tabulation error.

Just hours after they began counting absentee ballots at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, officials with Milwaukee’s Central Count discovered there was a problem with the physical sealing of the tabulating machines — “some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials,” the Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) said in a statement.

Out of an abundance of caution, all thirteen affected machines are reset. When the machines are reset, all 31,000 ballots will be run through the machines again.

The decision to recount the ballots was “made in consultation with both Republican and Democratic officials,” the MEC statement said.

Watch: Jenna Rae explains why Milwaukee needs to recount about 30,000 ballots:

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

Election officials say this will delay the full election results in Milwaukee by a few hours.

Here is the full statement released by the Milwaukee Election Commission:

“This afternoon, Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) leadership was alerted to an issue with the tabulator doors being completely locked in place. Each machine has a door that should have been locked and sealed. It appears that some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials The City of Milwaukee has no doubts about the integrity of the election. However, to remove any doubt in order to be fully transparent, the MEC has decided to restart the tabulation process for all ballots in Central Count in consultation with both Republican and Democrats. officials. Approximately 31,000 ballots will be redistricted. As a result, the final count will be delayed accuracy of Milwaukee’s election results. We will keep the news media informed of any further updates on this matter.

Paulina Gutierrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Elections Commission, is expected to provide an update to the media on this situation soon.

We’ll update this story with more details as we get them.

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