Absentee ballots
Municipal clerks are expecting high use again for the spring election.
With memories of chaotic 2020 elections, Wisconsin clerks are looking toward another election this spring with high numbers of absentee ballots, a trend that might be here to stay.
Clerks are preparing for the April 6 election, processing absentee requests and sending out ballots, preparing staff to handle the votes for state superintendent and local races. It won’t be nearly as hectic as last April’s presidential preference primary or the November general election, but absentee ballots are still going to play a huge role.
Diane Coenen, clerk for the city of Oconomowoc and former president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association, said absentee requests have slowly been ticking up for the last several years. But the pandemic has really solidified it — absentee ballots are the easiest way for voters to cast their ballot.
“Obviously last year was a huge jump, but it’s not slowing down,” she said. “On Mondays, we come in to 50 to 100 absentee requests. We’ve never had that before. We used to get 5, 10, 15 over a weekend.”
As of March 19, more than 363,000 people have requested absentee ballots for the spring election, said Reid Magney, the public information officer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission. In the 2019 spring election, before the pandemic struck, about 168,000 people requested absentee ballots and about 141,000 people returned them.
While the pandemic is likely largely responsible for such high numbers of absentees now, Coenen thinks the convenience will likely keep voters signing up in future years, even after masks and social distancing aren’t required.
“I think our state should look at all mail-in voting, because the trend is going up,” she said.
But even with more absentee ballots, clerks aren’t anticipating anything nearly as hectic as last spring.
Last year, clerks were stressed and overworked, trying to keep up with the huge influx of absentee ballot requests for every election. Poll workers worked late nights packaging ballots to get them out in time to voters. Election night was longer than usual, too, as clerks were required to wait until the morning of the election to process ballots.
And then there were the absentee ballots that didn’t get sent in time because Wisconsin wasn’t prepared to handle mail-in voting at the level the pandemic demanded.
“The April election was a very hectic, manic kind of election because we were one of the only states not to postpone,” Madison Deputy Clerk Jim Verbick said. “The pandemic was declared a month out from the election and the state’s system for absentee was not accustomed to getting large numbers of requests at one time.”
Not only were clerks worried about a growing workload, they were scared for the safety of themselves, poll workers and voters as well in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.
“There was concern, uncertainty, there was a weight on your shoulder,” Coenen said. “It was a first for every clerk dealing with a pandemic like this”
Coenen said a large number of clerks resigned or retired last year, after the weight of a presidential election, the pandemic and scrutiny over the validity of the election.
“Some clerks just said ‘I’m done, I can’t do this anymore,’” she said. “What mainly drives clerks out of the job is elections.”
Expectation for smooth election
This spring’s election is going to be easier, clerks said, because Wisconsin has updated its absentee balloting system and poll workers know what to do after handling several elections under pandemic conditions.
The volume of votes this spring election is expected to be much lower than a year ago when the state also had its presidential preference primary on the ballot. The April 6 election features one statewide race — for superintendent of public instruction — and primarily local school board races.
“Whereas a year ago we were scrambling to send out 80,000 absentee ballots, now for a small turnout election we’re sending 40,000 without the blink of an eye,” said Claire Woodall-Vogg, the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. “The technology has shifted and things are so much calmer despite the volume being high.”
As far as counting absentee ballots, while things haven’t changed in time for the April election, clerks are hopeful the Legislature will pass a measure allowing for the ballots to be counted ahead of an election day, eliminating the possibility of delays in reporting vote counts.
“It would be life-changing,” WoodallVogg said. “Counting them in advance would be a more controlled atmosphere.”
Verbick agreed.
“It would eliminate confusion or misconceptions about results being counted after the election,” he said.
How to request an absentee ballot
If you haven’t yet requested an absentee ballot, but want to get one before the election, visit www.myvote.wi.gov.
From there, you can register to vote absentee (make sure to have your ID handy, as you’ll need to upload a picture to complete the application. And no, a selfie won’t work) and request a ballot. If you’re already registered at your current address, you can simply request a ballot.
Clerks began sending out ballots on March 16 for those who had already requested them. Ballots requested after that date are typically sent out within 24 hours of the clerk receiving the request.
When filling out your ballot, pay attention to the envelope. In addition to your own signature, you’ll need a witness to sign and fill in their address. Your witness must be a U.S. citizen, but does not need to live in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Elections Commission recommends using a black ink pen for filling in the ballot and the envelope.
Clerks recommend returning your ballot as soon as possible and tracking it through the MyVote site. If you receive your absentee ballot too close to April 6 to return it by mail, your ballot can be placed in a ballot drop box or returned to your polling place on election day, before 8 p.m.