NEIL ALBRECHT INTERVIEW

4-14-20
Executive Director & 3
Election Commissioners
City of Milwaukee
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Neil V. Albrecht, executive director of Milwaukee
Election Commission Milwaukee Courier Interview,
April 8, 2020.
After what seemed like a never ending will it or won’t it,
the Spring General Election went forward as scheduled.
This past Tuesday, April 7, Wisconsin was one of the
trending topics due to the Wisconsin Supremes’ Court
decision to continue with the election.
As part of this decision, in-person voting sites were open
for business. Milwaukee, which typically has 180 voting
sites, was reduced to five. In total, over 18,000 people
voted in person and about 97,000 absentee ballots were
requested.
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Neil Albrecht, the executive director for the City of

Milwaukee Election Commission, held a virtual press
conference on Wednesday, April 8 to discuss the election.
“I am very pleased with this number and with the
operations of those sites,” Albrecht said. “They operated
first and foremost with the intent of protecting voters
and election workers.”
He added that he put a lot of thought into which wards
would vote together and at which sites in order to ensure
no center was busier than another. This decision also
aimed to decrease disparities and lower wait times. Each
site saw about 3,300 voters.
“I consider it a successful election for the City of
Milwaukee,” he said.
Adding, “It is an election that I believe never should have
occurred. We should have never been put in the position
of creating a community gathering setting at a time when
health officials are speculating that incidents or
infections of COVID-19 are spiking in the City of
Milwaukee.”
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Albrecht said he made the decision regarding the five

voting centers based on the information he had on the
resources available. This decision included looking at the
number of facilities that could provide enough space for
social distancing and the number of election workers.
As Milwaukee is the epicenter of the virus in Wisconsin, a
lot of election workers made the difficult decision to stay
home, Albrecht said. Those who were able to work
received gowns, masks, gloves and disinfectants.
The National Guard helped at voting sites as well. While
some ensured social distancing was maintained, others
acted as election workers.
So far, no official election results have been announced.
This is in part due to the large number of absentee
ballots still being counted. The ballots are being counted
at the city’s central count center. At night, police officers
are standing watch over the ballots.
Furthermore, a decision must be made over absentee
ballots lacking postmarks. If a ballot was returned on
April 7 and contains the postmark then it will be counted,
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but not all ballots have a postmark. The lack of postmark

poses an issue with the Wisconsin Constitution.
It should also be noted that not all voters who requested
an absentee ballot received one.
Albrecht said the Election Commission received notice
that a majority of ballots sent out on March 22 and
March 23, never arrived. An investigation into the post
office will be launched to see what happened.
It was difficult for all the players, Albrecht said, in regard
to the clerks processing requests to voters having issues
with the My Vote Wisconsin website and so on.
Wisconsin’s decision to continue with an election amid a
pandemic will not be forgotten. Now, it’s only a matter of
time before Wisconsinites see the impact of this election,
for it won’t be the election results alone.

Conflict of Interest
This article in Milwaukee Courier gives questionable
statements and decision by Executive Director Neil
Albrecht, the Election Commissioners – Stephanie Findley,
Chair, Carmen Cabrera, and Jess Ripp - and Tom Barrett,
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incumbent mayor who appointed Albrecht, Findley,

Cabrera and Ripp.