Due to tabulation errors, election officials in Milwaukee announced Tuesday that they would proceed with a count of more than 35,000 absentee votes. This error is expected to delay reporting the results of a highly contested battleground State.

Jeff Fleming, the city spokesperson for Milwaukee, told reporters on Tuesday that officials had decided to order a recount of the 31,000 votes after discovering problems with 13 tabulator devices.

Officials from the Milwaukee Election Commission confirmed on Tuesday that 13 of these machines had problems with the tabulator doors, which either were not secured properly or were not fully sealed and locked. This triggered the recount of 31,000 absentee votes cast by mail, dropbox, and in person.

This decision will delay the reporting of approximately 105,000 absentee votes in Wisconsin, an important battleground state for the 2024 elections.

According to a spokesperson for the county, the recount of 31,000 absentee votes was done in consultation with Republican officials and Democratic officials.

Fleming said to reporters that he decided to count the ballots out of an “abundance of caution” even though he was aware of the potential delays this recount would cause for the overall election results of the state.

Milwaukee officials have said that they will be bringing in city employees and firefighters to help with the counting of absentee votes.

Milwaukee, the largest city of Wisconsin, is one of the seven battleground states that are considered crucial to the election of the next president.

Wisconsin will also be one of the most competitive States in the 2020 election cycle.

In 2016, the Badger State was one of three Rustbelt states to vote for Trump. However, in 2020 it voted Joe Biden.

Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, by a margin of 20682 votes. Fleming said Tuesday that the narrow victory provides an additional incentive for the state to be transparent and as careful as possible with its ballot counting process and reporting.

Fleming, a reporter, said that the machine’s actions against the wall need to be redone. It will take longer to get the results here. We do not know how long that will take. It’s not insignificant.

The Republicans condemned Milwaukee’s error on Tuesday night, calling it an “unacceptable example” of incompetent electoral administration in a swing state.

In a joint statement, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said that voters “deserved better” and that they were calling on Milwaukee officials to count votes quickly and accurately.

Anything less than this undermines the confidence of voters.