Heavy turnout, lines across state
Election turnout Tuesday appeared to soar to some of the highest levels in a spring election in decades, leading to one to two hour lines at some college campus polls.
“The turnout was pretty remarkable for a spring presidential primary, and I would not be surprised if we surpass some recent records,” said Neil Albrecht, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.
In general, voting went smoothly in Milwaukee and statewide, but there were long lines in some locations statewide, especially near college campuses such as Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UWGreen Bay, said Albrecht and Michael Haas, elections administrator for the state Government Accountability Board.
Students faced difficulties in registering to vote at the polls and in meeting the state’s new requirement that voters show a valid photo ID.
“There were just a lot of challenges for students to meet the proof of residency requirement (for registration) and meeting the photo ID requirement,” Albrecht said.
By 7 p.m. at Marquette University’s Alumni Memorial Union, 1,030 voters in three wards had cast ballots.
There was no line to vote. But the 200-person line to register or to change an address looped around the inside of the union with a roughly two-hour wait.
The Rev. Tom Manahan, director of campus ministry at Marquette University High School, was one of those waiting to register because he had changed his address.
“I think voting is an important witness. You feel like you’re part of the larger whole and you take your responsibility seriously,” he said.
Students had laptops open or were highlighting reading material as they stood in line. Others ordered pizza and shared it with friends.
“I debated leaving, but I decided not to because it’s important to vote,” said Cara LaBelle of Naperville, Ill.
The university issued about 500 voter ID cards for nonresidents who needed a photo ID from Wisconsin. The university had issued about 200 IDs per day in the last several days leading up to the primary.
Last week, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board predicted that nearly 1.8 million Wisconsinites — or 40% of eligible voters — would cast a ballot, which would amount to the largest turnout since 1980 for a spring election.
“If anything, it sounds like our projections were low, but there’s no way to know until counties post the results tonight,” Haas said.
Early voting, which wrapped up for in-person absentee ballots last week, has also been running at more than twice the levels of the 2012 presidential primary.
This election was the largest yet in which voters had to show a Wisconsin driver’s license, state ID card, passport or one of a few other alternatives.
UW-Green Bay spokeswoman Janet Bonkowski said that throughout most of the day about 100 students were waiting to vote on campus, with the line surging to as many as 250 students around 4 p.m., once most classes had wrapped up. She attributed the long wait to a large turnout, rather than delays because of the photo ID law.
UW-Green Bay and UWMadison had sent information to students beforehand and also made computer terminals available for students to gather information such as proof of enrollment, which is needed if students vote with a campus ID rather than a state driver’s license.
There was some confusion at UW-Milwaukee, even among poll workers, about whether students living in residence halls had to go to the registrar’s office to get an enrollment verification letter as proof of address in order to register.
They actually could obtain one online and print it out themselves. Some students found that out after being sent to the registrar’s office by poll workers.
To vote, students also needed a photo ID, either a voter ID issued by the campus for nonresident students or one of the other state-approved IDs.
Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.