Milwaukee Election Commission head Neil Albrecht says the 5 polling places that are open (down from 180) opened essentially on time. He says National Guard members, Milwaukee police officers and Milwaukee Health department staffers are helping, along with poll workers.

The Milwaukee sites are typically reporting 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hour long wait times, Albrecht says. “There are many injustices attached to this election,” he says.

Hundreds of people have called the Milwaukee Election Commission reporting that they never received their absentee ballots in the mail, Albrecht says.

“I think this is a very sad situation for voters in the City of Milwaukee and across the state,” Albrecht says. “We have moved forward with an election, but we have not moved forward with democracy in the State of Wisconsin.”

The City of Milwaukee plans to report the number of ballots cast, but NO election results tonight, Albrecht says.

Albrecht says that the MyVote website and municipalities were not equipped to deal with the volume of absentee ballot requests that they received

Albrecht says he didn’t know until yesterday how many National Guard member would be able to help at the polls, adding that the city ended up getting about 170 members. “Had we had that information sooner, I absolutely think it could have influenced the number of voting centers.”

So far about 750 absentee ballots submitted to City of Milwaukee officials are missing witness signatures, Albrecht says.