Waukesha County Primary Voters Applauded For "Remarkable" Participation; Exact Numbers Withheld

WAUKESHA — Two weeks after the Aug. 11 partisan primary for Wisconsin governor, sheriff, and a slate of county races, city officials have released their third public statement praising voter participation as "remarkable" while still declining to say how many people actually voted.

The statement, read aloud at Thursday's Common Council meeting and posted to the city's website under the heading "Election Update," called turnout "a point of real civic pride for Waukesha" and thanked residents for what it termed "showing up in the numbers they showed up in." No number appeared anywhere in the 340-word release. A follow-up email to constituents Friday morning used the phrase "strong showing" four times across three paragraphs.

"When you start counting votes, the numbers get pretty big, and we wanted to be conservative in our estimates," City Clerk David Voss said in a brief hallway interview after Thursday's meeting, declining to specify what "big" meant in this context or which direction conservative was rounding. Voss, who has staffed the clerk's office for 34 years, said final canvass figures were completed and certified on schedule but that his office had decided to hold the topline number "for context" pending a review he described as "mostly formatting."

Somewhere Between 200 And Maybe 800

Pressed for even a rough estimate, one election official who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss turnout figures put the number at "somewhere between 200 and maybe 800" voters citywide, a range spanning 600 people that the official described as "directionally accurate." Asked whether Tuesday's primary had, in fact, taken place, the official confirmed that "Tuesday's voting probably happened" and that it constituted "a real event that occurred," before referring further questions to the clerk's office.

Councilman Gary Puchalski, who has previously called a city-sponsored ice cream social "peak civic engagement," told reporters he had personally reviewed the turnout figures and found them "very encouraging, structurally," though he said he had signed a document acknowledging the numbers as confidential before he was permitted to see them. Puchalski said he could not recall who had asked him to sign it.

"Tuesday's voting probably happened. It was a real event that occurred."

— Election official, speaking on condition of anonymity

A Formatting Issue, Ongoing

The Wisconsin Elections Commission requires county clerks to report certified turnout figures within a set window after canvassing, and Waukesha County confirmed to this paper that the underlying numbers were transmitted to the state on time. The gap, city officials clarified, is specific to how the numbers are being communicated to residents, not whether they exist. Voss described the distinction as "important" three separate times without elaborating on why.

A resident who called the clerk's office this week seeking a turnout percentage for a school project said she was told the figure was "in a spreadsheet somewhere" and that someone would "circle back," a phrase the office has also used in response to records requests filed by this paper on Aug. 12, Aug. 15, and Aug. 21. The Aug. 21 request received an automated reply stating the matter was "actively being looked into," followed by no further correspondence as of press time.

What The City Is Prepared To Say

Asked directly whether the city could confirm turnout exceeded 100 voters, a spokesperson said yes. Asked whether it exceeded 1,000, the spokesperson said that was "not a figure we're prepared to confirm or deny at this time," and noted that the city's official position remains that participation was "remarkable" regardless of what number eventually accompanies the word. Voss, for his part, said he expects to have "more clarity" by the next election cycle, currently scheduled for spring, and returned to a folder on his desk that he described only as "unrelated."