Wisconsin voters head to the polls for a partisan primary election on Aug. 11. They’ll select candidates for governor, U.S. Congress, the state Legislature and more.
Through WUWM's election survey, we're hearing what questions you have about the election. WUWM Eric Von Fellow Akira Quinn put some of them to Wisconsin's top elections official, Meagan Wolfe.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Akira Quinn: Is there anything different about the upcoming election that voters should know about?
Meagan Wolfe: The process for voting in Wisconsin for the Aug. 11 partisan primary is the same as the process you've used to vote in elections previously in Wisconsin. So there have not been any major changes at the state or the federal level that impact Wisconsin voters and how they're going to participate. But I will say, a partisan primary election is different than a general election in terms of what your ballot's going to look like.
In a partisan primary, you're selecting what candidates you want to move on to the general election in November. And so, for voters, when you receive your ballot, you're going to have primaries for different political parties. And the important thing for the August primary is that you can only vote within one party's primary. If you were to vote in primaries in multiple parties, then your votes would not count; it would be what's called an overvote. And so, voters just need to be very careful to ensure they're following the instructions that come with their ballot, from their poll worker, or from their municipal clerk.
There have been several actions at the federal level: the FBI investigating election officials in Milwaukee, proposals requiring states to share voter information for mail ballots, and the Department of Justice warning states they could face criminal charges if noncitizens are allowed to vote. How are these actions affecting elections in Wisconsin?
So again, there have been no laws that have been passed or executive orders that haven't been challenged through the legal process. So, there are no changes to how Wisconsin voters will interact with the election process. When we receive correspondence from the federal government, we are very transparent about that, and we post it on our website, myvote.wi.gov.
And in all instances, when we have had these contacts from the federal level, our six-member bipartisan commission has issued some type of response, which is also available on our website. And with the most recent communication from the DOJ, we were pleased to be able to report back to them and to the public that Wisconsin already takes it extremely seriously and has laws to ensure that only lawful, eligible voters are on our voter list. And so that's what's reflected in the correspondence that was sent by our commission.
WUWM has been receiving questions from our audience through election surveys. One of those questions concerns absentee voting. Are there any changes with mail-in voting?
There aren't changes to mail-in voting, but there are some really important things that voters who choose to utilize mail-in voting should keep in mind. And the most important one is you have to have your ballot back by 8 p.m. on election day. In some other states, if you postmark your ballot by election day and it gets back in the days after, it can still be counted. That is not the case in Wisconsin.
So, if you are returning your ballot by mail, the guidance is to get that ballot in the mail back to your clerk at least 10 days before the election or primary — sooner if you can.
And voters should also consider, if they're able to, other options to return their ballot. So, you can go to myvote.wi.gov, and there you can find information about your municipal clerk. You'll be able to contact them to find out if you have dropboxes for ballots in your community, if you're able to, and where you're able to return your ballot in person to your clerk.
And so, these are all options that voters should consider, especially as we get closer to the election. Because again, your ballot has to be back by 8 p.m. on election day, in order to be counted. So, if you put your ballot in the mail five days before the election and it doesn't make it back to your clerk in time, you can't then go to the polls and vote at the polls.
What type of documentation should you bring to vote, or for mail-in ballots as well?
For Wisconsin voters, there are two steps of the process. The first is registering to vote. And you can register to vote by mail and online at myvote.wi.gov if you're more than 20 days out from an election or a primary. And in those instances, you're going to either match your data with the DMV, or you're going to provide a document that proves your residence. So, if you're registering to vote by mail or in-person during in- person absentee, or at the polls on election day, you're going to need what's called a proof of residence document.
This is something that shows your address where you currently live so that the clerk can ensure that you get the right ballot with all of the contests and candidates that you're eligible to vote for. These proof of residence documents for registering can be something like a utility bill, a bank statement, and it could even be your Wisconsin ID card or driver's license, if that has your current and valid address on it.
So that's the registration. Then there's photo ID, and photo ID is what you need to show to prove you are who you say you are. You have to provide a copy of your photo ID the first time you make an absentee ballot request. And if you go to myvote.wi.gov, it'll walk you through that process. You'd be able to take a picture of your ID and submit all that to the clerk.
If you're voting in person, either during in-person absentee or at the polls on election day, then you're going to show your photo ID to your poll worker, and they'll take a look at that for compliance to make sure the name matches the name on the poll book, to make sure it's not expired or within the expiration deadlines, and then they're also going to make sure that the picture reasonably looks like the person that's in front of them. And if all those things match, then the voter will be able to proceed to sign the poll book, and they will be issued a ballot.
But all those laws have been in place since about 2011, and there haven't been any changes to the process, really, since then. So, if you voted before in the state of Wisconsin, the process is still going to be the same for August.
What are you doing to ensure that there isn't any voter intimidation or any other interference with people's right to vote?
Here in the state of Wisconsin, we have more local election officials in charge of administering our elections than any other state. So,every city, town and village has their poll workers, their election officials that are administering the election. And a chief inspector is the person who's always in charge of each polling place.
And these folks are all people that are trained to understand Wisconsin law, to work with their local law enforcement, to ensure the orderly conduct of elections, to ensure that nobody's able to interfere with the process, and to ensure that the elections are secure and conducted with integrity. And so, our poll workers, our election officials, and all of our communities are trained and even do scenario-based training to understand what interferences could look like and how they would manage that, plan for it, have contingency plans to make sure that that is dealt with promptly, and that voters can exercise their right to vote smoothly.
How is the hiring process going with the training of the poll workers? What are you hearing from my local clerks?
So, each of our 1,851 municipal clerks across the state is responsible for recruiting and training the poll workers in their communities. And what we're hearing is that in the last few years, the political parties — so there's a part of our law that says the political party can submit lists of poll workers, and the clerks have to first choose from those lists before they work with unaffiliated poll workers. Those lists are much bigger than they have been in the past. So, in a lot of our communities that may not have seen those lists from the political parties in the past, they're seeing them this year. And so, a lot of our smaller communities, especially, do have enough poll workers and have a larger pool than maybe they have in the past.
But other communities just have more polling places and more voters. The city of Milwaukee, for example, is our largest city. They have more voters, and they have more polling places. And I know that they're always looking for assistance and for more poll workers who can help out with the process. So, I always encourage people to get involved, to become a poll worker. The people run elections in Wisconsin; we run them, they're run by your neighbors, your friends, your family, and so get involved and see if there are ways that you can help to administer elections in your community. So even communities that might already have enough poll workers, please reach out to your clerk and see if there's an opportunity for you to get involved.
Is there anything else voters should know ahead of the August and November elections?
I would encourage voters to make sure that they're registered to vote at their current address. And you can go to myvote.wi.gov to check the status of your voter registration. And also, just to think ahead about what method of voting you're going to use. Are you going to vote by mail or absentee? Are you gonna vote in-person absentee in your clerk's office in the two weeks before an election? Are you going to vote on Election Day at the polling place? And just make sure you understand the process for that type of voting and ensure that your ballot is completed in accordance with the law and that it's received on time so that your vote is counted.
Myvote.wi.gov is the state of Wisconsin's official website for voters and voting information. And that's where you can go to check all your statuses, but also find information to contact your municipal clerk. So, it's a great resource and a great place to start if you have any questions about the voting process.
