MILWAUKEE — A surge in voter turnout during Milwaukee’s spring election on Tuesday led to unexpected ballot shortages at seven polling places, leaving some voters in long lines waiting not only to vote, but for ballots to arrive.

The city processed more than 55,000 ballots—roughly 20,000 more than were cast during the last Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

The unexpected volume prompted concern from voters and scrutiny of how city officials estimate ballot distribution. 

Paulina Gutierrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, acknowledged the shortages and called the experience “a learning opportunity.”

“We’re definitely going to learn from this experience and overestimate every chance I have now,” she said Tuesday night at Milwaukee’s Central Count, where officials processed ballots late into the evening.

Gutierrez explained that the city typically bases ballot projections on data from previous elections and uses turnout trends to predict high-traffic locations.

She said the election commission sent out dozens of field crew members to deliver the ballots.

“We work towards using previous elections,” said Gutierrez. “We do busy locations, registered voter turnout, you know, like college universities we usually focus on like Election Day registrations.”

Still, it was not enough. According to Gutierrez, this historic election saw a 60% turnout rate, well above the city’s typical spring election, which usually sees 20-40%.