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As Absentee Voting Nears A Close, Some Elections Officials Report High Turnout

In-Person Absentee Voting Continues To Grow In Popularity

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In Wisconsin, absentee voting is coming to a close for the April election and some cities are reporting high turnout for a nonpresidential spring race.

Wisconsin voters don’t need to provide a reason in order to cast an absentee ballot in person or by mail.

The number of voters opting to vote in person absentee is growing statewide, according to a Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesman.

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Executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission Neil Albrecht said that kind of voting continues to gain popularity in the city.

“That’s really representative of a national trend,” he said. “More people, busy schedules or working multiple jobs, just very concerned that their Election Day schedule is going to conflict with their ability to vote.”

That’s especially true for presidential elections, said Albrecht, but it’s spilled over in spring elections too.

“People also are feeling perhaps, you know, very passionate about politics right now and they want to make sure that they’re able to cast a ballot in the election,” he said.

As of Thursday, Albrecht said more than 1,200 people had voted early, which is smaller than recent presidential election numbers but much higher for a spring election cycle.

In 2014 — the parallel election in the four-year cycle — there were only 303 in-person absentee voters in Milwaukee.

Albrecht said absentee voters like casting ballots in person instead of by mail but Election Day voting remains the most popular because voters can see their ballot go directly into the tabulator.

In Madison, City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl said in-person absentee voting is on track to break the record high for a nonpresidential April election.

Witzel-Behl said last April there were 5,312 people voting in-person absentee. With two days remaining, there had been 4,386 in-person ballots cast by Thursday.

In-person absentee voting has especially taken off since location restrictions placed by the Legislature were lifted in 2016, said Witzel-Behl.

“Since the fall of 2016, every election has been a record-setting election for in-person absentee voting and for voter turnout.”

In-person absentee voters are no longer limited to voting in one location.

“We found that people really like to vote at the library,” she said. “It’s closer to home. They have more options for parking, they don’t necessarily need to park in a parking ramp. And we haven’t had long lines like we’ve had in previous years.”

Mail-in absentee ballots need to be received by Election Day. Witzel-Behl said people should get ballots in the mail as soon as they can or drop them off at an absentee voting site.

Final dates for in-person absentee voting are different across Wisconsin but voters can find voting locations and times online.

In Milwaukee, registered absentee voters have until Friday afternoon to vote in person. In Madison, they have until Saturday.