Milwaukee election officials delayed the release of primary-election results by about 90 minutes after a human error involving flash drives. The delay mattered because outstanding absentee ballots could affect the closely contested Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor between David Crowley and Francesca Hong, and because it revived scrutiny of election administration in Democratic-led areas.

Officials said five of nine flash drives contained audit logs rather than vote totals, requiring staff to return to the central counting site, download the correct results and upload them again. Around 28,000 absentee ballots were initially affected; officials said there was no indication that votes had been altered, only that reporting was delayed. The episode followed previous Milwaukee absentee-ballot reporting problems, including a flash-drive mistake in 2020 and a tabulator-related delay in 2024.