As Wisconsin’s version of early voting got underway, this news agency spoke to voters from a wide range of places and perspectives: small towns, Milwaukee suburbs, conservative Waukesha, and liberal Madison.
Voter turnout on day one of what the state terms “in-person absentee voting” stood at 97,436—more than 17,000 votes higher than in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic response.
Some clerks dealt with technical issues on Oct. 22 when trying to print labels for absentee ballot envelopes. That process depended on a voter registration and election management platform called WisVote.
“Today’s system lag was purely related to demands on the WisVote system due to high turnout,” the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) wrote in a statement on the problem, stating that it had been resolved.
However, the delays cropped up again the following day.
“WEC staff learned Wednesday that the system delay is not just affecting WisVote label printing—it appears to also be affecting some non-election related state systems as well. High levels of in-person absentee voting do still appear to be compounding the issue,” the agency wrote in an Oct. 23 statement.
The statement noted that clerks can hand-write labels instead of printing them, potentially offering some relief as Wisconsinites wait in voting lines.
From Waukesha to Madison, citizens made it clear that they were eager have an impact in the battleground state’s popular vote—one where an unexpectedly tight race between incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Eric Hovde may also tip the balance of the Senate.
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