Starting Oct. 25 through Nov. 5, early voters can cast their ballots in person ahead of the midterm election.
Riley Vetterkind is a public information officer at the Wisconsin Elections Commission. He talked with WUWM about how people can vote early and be prepared at the polls.
Vetterkind suggests people visit vote.wi.gov to find their local clerk and check their registration status.
“The clerk in many instances can act as the witness for the absentee ballot, and then they securely store that ballot until election day when it's counted,” he says. “It's really important that you check with your clerk there to see what options are available to you.”
Vetterkind adds that if you’re registering at the polls, you would need to provide a proof of residence document like a bank statement. To vote, you would need to provide proper photo identification.
Wisconsin’s voting laws have changed in recent months, with state Supreme Court rulings altering how people cast absentee ballots and how election clerks count them. In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes would only be available at voting sites. A later ruling allowed disabled voters to receive assistance when returning absentee ballots.
Vetterkind explains how absentee voting works and how voters that need assistance in returning absentee ballots can do so.
“Generally speaking, voters — due to recent court rulings — are expected to either mail their absentee ballot or return it to the clerk's office in person. However, the Voting Rights Act allows voters who need assistance due to a disability to select someone to assist with that process in getting that ballot to the clerk's office by Election Day.”
He says voters with disabilities can choose anyone to assist them with the exception of an agent of that person's employer or of that person's labor union.
Another recent court ruling barred the Wisconsin Elections Commission from allowing clerks to complete absentee ballots that were submitted with partial or missing addresses. Vetterkind’s biggest piece of advice to voters is to really pay close attention when you're filling out your absentee ballot.
“A lot of potential issues can be avoided if a voter pays close attention to filling in all the information, making sure that all the information about the voter and about the voter's absentee witness is full and complete on the absentee ballot certificate envelope. If all that is filled out properly, election day will go smoothly for that voter.”
The last day to register to vote at your local clerk’s office is Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. A list and schedule of early voting sites in Milwaukee is available at city.milwaukee.gov/earlyvoting. To find out more about the midterm election, visit WUWM’s Voter Guide.
Stay up-to-date for the upcoming midterms with information on the candidates, their positions, voting processes and other pertinent information in our voter guide.
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