NBC News Chief Data Analyst Steve Kornacki provided a genuine on-air reaction as significant absentee vote counts from Milwaukee were unexpectedly delayed. The postponement, reported late last night, was attributed to human error by local election officials.
“They’re giving an update now—I’m trying to understand what’s happening,” shared NBC News National Politics Reporter Ben Kamisar with Kornacki, approximately six hours into the livestream around 1 a.m. ET.
This led to a 20-second pause as Kamisar scrolled anxiously to gather more information.
Kamisar later clarified that instead of election results, audit logs had been downloaded onto five of the nine flash drives transported from the city’s central count facility to Milwaukee County Courthouse.
This mishap resulted in delaying the results of the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
The Associated Press ended up calling the race at 2:34am Wednesday, confirming that Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley upset democratic-socialist State Representative Francesca Hong.
After another ten, silent seconds, a confused Kornacki asked, ‘Are they still giving the update?’
Kamisar, still perusing his laptop, stammered that he was still reading the closed captioning and didn’t ‘have the fullest grasp of’ what was going on. Kornacki struck a bent-over recovery stance before eventually offering viewers a prolonged facepalm.
NBC’s Steve Kornacki offered viewers an unscripted reaction to news that five of nine flash drives brought from Milwaukee’s central count facility to Milwaukee County Courthouse had audit logs downloaded rather than results for the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary
David Crowley accepts the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin Governor during a press conference
His sidekick tried to explain as he stood hunched over in disbelief.
‘It appears that there were some irregularities in the reporting process, so I think they have to go back to the city location, do some work there, and then potentially kind of restart that process,’ Kamisar said.
‘That’s what I’m gathering from the city right now. Or from the county update.’
Kornacki asked: ‘Really? That’s, um- so we’re back to square one on this?’
‘Potentially, I’m just going through the, uh- just trying to read the closed captioning as it’s coming,’ Kamisar replied, his eyes glued to the computer screen.
Kornacki, 46, apologized. ‘I didn’t mean to uh… it just seems like a very-‘ He cleared his throat before noting, with a slight smile, the development was a ‘significant thing.’
Another 20-second period of dead-air followed, during which Kornacki took out his cellphone. As he did, Kamisar confirmed: ‘Yeah. They have to restart that process.
‘So, they have to go back to the city location, I think re-grab the memory sticks, or go through that vote process again, and then bring it back to the county.’
Kornacki couldn’t help but show his distress and amusement as the situation evolved. NBC News National Politics Reporter Ben Kamisar offered the updates
‘Really? That’s, um- so we’re back to square one on this?’ the analyst said at a point
‘Are we talking hours?’ asked Kornacki, after another period of awkward silence.
Kamisar explained that with the time needed for officials to drive back to the Central Count location in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, that seemed to be the case.
‘And it’s now 1am,’ he noted, streaming live for fans on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
‘Uhh…’ said Kornacki, before a frustrated sniff and more silence.
‘Well, there’s no traffic at this hour – I guess that’s good,’ he joked.
The analyst let out a playful stomp before the absurdity fully got to him.
‘Are you serious? They have to… come-… Okay. Um, what are we thinking here?’ he said, before burying his face in his hand while laughing.
Kamisar responded with more silence and scrolling.
‘I guess the exact thing is, five of the USB sticks were missing results from the election, so then, they had to go and re-grab them,’ an also puzzled Kamisar confirmed
‘How do I ask this artfully: Do we still have an audience?’ Kornacki asked, before ending the livestream
‘I guess the exact thing is, five of the USB sticks were missing results from the election, so then, they had to go an re-grab them,’ he clarified.
Kornacki couldn’t help but look down and shake his head.
‘How do I ask this artfully: Do we still have an audience?’ he quipped, with some tongue-in-cheek distress. The ‘Kornacki Cam’ stream ended roughly 10 minutes later, before a victor was announced.
Crowley finished with 65,131 votes, or 43 percent. Hong – whom prediction market Kalshi pegged as having a 95 percent chance – finished just shy, with 62,739.