Tammy Baldwin tours Milwaukee election center ahead of Aug. 11 primary
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Friday for a tour of the city's Election Operations Center, 10 days before Wisconsin's Aug. 11 primary election.
The visit came after Johnson invited Vice President JD Vance to tour the facility while he was in Milwaukee earlier this month. The invitation followed a public dispute over President Donald Trump's continued, unfounded claims that Wisconsin's 2020 election was stolen.
Vance did not accept the invitation, so Baldwin toured the facility instead.
"Our elections are safe, they are secure, and there's really no evidence to the contrary," Baldwin said.
After touring the center, Baldwin praised what she described as the "rigor and organization" of Milwaukee's election process, including the experienced, bipartisan workers involved at each stage.
"There are folks with eyes on the process from the very early stages all the way through to canvassing and auditing," Baldwin said. "There is public testing of voter technology."
Baldwin said Wisconsin's local election officials have the experience and systems needed to conduct elections fairly and accurately.
"Things work here in Wisconsin," Baldwin said. "We have great local election officials who know how to register people to vote, to make sure they are citizens, to make sure elections at the local level are conducted with accuracy and fairness, and that every vote is counted."
Johnson and Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez joined Baldwin during the tour.
"We've got dedicated people who have been working elections for quite some time, several decades, in fact, working to make sure elections are safe, transparent and secure here in Milwaukee," Johnson said.
The visit also came as federal officials have reportedly been asking questions about Wisconsin's election system. CBS 58 learned the FBI recently interviewed multiple Milwaukee police officers and, according to Johnson, at least one Wisconsin election worker.
Baldwin, Johnson and Gutierrez also discussed concerns about mail delays after approximately two-thirds of Wisconsin election officials reported problems during the spring election involving absentee ballots that arrived too late to be counted.
"It remains a puzzle to me what happened in April," Baldwin said. "That was a distinct deviation from what we have heard in past elections."
Gutierrez said the U.S. Postal Service has repeatedly assured election officials it is prepared for the August primary.
"We are being assured via email and phone calls that the post office is ready for August and that we won't see what we saw in April, and we hope that's the case," Gutierrez said.
Because of those concerns, the Milwaukee Election Commission is encouraging absentee voters who have not yet mailed their ballots to return them in person at an early voting center or a designated secure ballot drop box.
Johnson said he remains willing to meet with Vance in Washington in September.
CBS 58 reached out to the vice president's office for comment but did not receive a response.