About 20 Glendale voters tried to cast recall primary ballots Tuesday at Milwaukee City Hall, a Milwaukee election official said.
The mixup apparently was part of the confusion triggered by the North Shore suburb’s decision to consolidate all of its polling places at Glendale City Hall for Tuesday’s Democratic primary. State Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) is facing Gladys Huber, a Republican running as a Democrat, for the right to challenge Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) in the Aug. 9 recall election.
For most elections, Glendale has six polling places. But in contests expected to draw very low turnouts, all voting takes place at Glendale City Hall. For the unusual summer election, in a district that includes only four of the city’s polling places, city officials opted for consolidation. Under criticism from residents, they agreed to open all four affected polling places for Aug. 9, but it was too late to change the plan for Tuesday.
More than 50 voters showed up at Glen Hills Middle School, their normal polling place, only to be turned away. They were met by Pasch supporters who told them to vote at City Hall and handed them maps.
But some of the voters apparently didn’t follow the maps or didn’t understand which city hall they were supposed to vote at.
“We were really getting quite a few of them,” said Neil Albrecht, deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. The would-be voters were sent back to their own community, and Milwaukee election officials contacted their Glendale counterparts to help straighten out the situation, Albrecht said.
The polling place consolidation also led to long lines and packed parking lots at Glendale City Hall.
Full Article: Glendale voters head to Milwaukee in recall primary mixup – JSOnline.