GLENDALE, Wis. — A disturbance at the polls in Glendale delayed absentee ballot counts and prompted police to show up. The city's mayor says it stemmed from poll observers disrupting the process.
The special election held Tuesday was for the fourth senate district in northern Milwaukee County.
Voters had a choice between two democratic state representatives, Dora Drake, and Lakeshia Myers, who are running to fill the remainder of Lena Taylor's term.
While polling site observers are legal and welcome at polling places, the mayor of Glendale is alleging the people there on Tuesday were there for a different purpose.
Kennedy says groups of election observers nearly halted absentee ballot counting by challenging officials.
"They were looking for every technicality they could find," Kennedy said. "A couple hours after the polls had opened, they hadn't been able to count a ballot at one of the locations at all."
VIDEO: Glendale mayor reacts to 'disruptive' election observers being removed by police
Kennedy describes these observers as eventually getting confrontational with poll workers.
"They were arguing that they weren't close enough to the absentee ballot observation, complaining that the poll workers weren't saying the names loudly enough they couldn't hear them," explained Kennedy. "Every single ballot that was coming up they were trying to challenge saying there was a problem with the ballot."
According to the public election observer sign-up sheet TMJ4 obtained, there were three to four observers at each of the three Glendale polling sites.
The list shows most of them reside outside of Milwaukee County: a few identifying themselves from Waukesha, Kenosha, and Racine counties.
Glendale police confirm they were called to two of the polling sites for reports of "disruptive poll observers."
Two of those observers were then asked to leave the site by police but no arrests were made.
"You have every right to observe the process, but our poll workers are incredibly well trained," said Kennedy.
The mayor now saying he's prepared to see this happen again.
"I fully expect that they are practicing right now for what we are going to see in future elections this year."
TMJ4 spoke to poll workers at each of the sites who have volunteered at multiple elections. They say they personally haven't experienced a disruption like this from election observers before.
I reached out to the Wisconsin GOP for comment. Their spokesperson, Matt Fisher, sent this statement:
"The Republican Party of Wisconsin did not recruit any election observers for the Democrat special election. The individuals responsible for these disturbances are in no way affiliated with the RPW."
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