7 Milwaukee polling locations run out of ballots, others run low due to 'unprecedented' turnout, MEC says

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Seven polling locations in the city of Milwaukee ran out of ballots for the spring election Tuesday night, according to the Milwaukee Election Commission, and others reported a low number of remaining ballots.

Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez said it's all due to the city experiencing unprecedented and historical turnout at the polls. 

In order to make sure everyone could cast their vote, Gutierrez says they had to print out more ballots and also delivered some early voting machines to those polling locations. 

She says they had to send out dozens of field crew members to deliver the ballots and it didn't help that it was during rush hour. 

Gutierrez stressed despite those issues, as long as voters were in line by 8 p.m., they could vote and would not be turned away. 

“It’s just a historic election with unprecedented turnout," said Gutierrez. "Typically for a spring election we see between 20-40% turnout. Towards the last few weeks as the attention came upon this election, we increased at 65% turnout so I’m going to assume there were places that were even higher than that.”

Anyone with concerns or questions can call 414-286-VOTE.