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Northwoods clerks see high voter turnout as early in-person absentee voting begins in Wisconsin

People line up outside the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building during the first day of Wisconsin's in-person absentee voting Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Milwaukee.
Morry Gash
/
AP
People line up outside the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building during the first day of Wisconsin's in-person absentee voting Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Milwaukee.

 At one point Tuesday, the line into the Rhinelander City Clerk’s office was nearly out the door.

“There was a line out the door of the clerk's office, almost to the staircase just to get into City Hall,” said Rhinelander City Clerk Austyn Zarda. “People were very, very enthusiastic. They wanted to vote early.”

Zarda said it’s the highest turnout for day one of early in-person voting he’s seen.

In Rhinelander, 78 people cast ballots on the first day of early in-person absentee voting. He wasn’t the only local clerk to see a big turnout.

Data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission website shows several communities had dozens of people turn out for early voting.

The Town of Minocqua had 134 people cast ballots on Tuesday.

Town Clerk Roben Haggert says it’s the highest first day early voting turnout she’s seen in her 25 years as clerk.

“It was very, very, very busy. There was a time in the morning where we had a pretty significant line. We got through everybody, and people were happy to be able to vote early, and it went very well,” said Haggert.

Statewide, more than 97,000 people cast absentee ballots. That’s up from nearly 80,000 in 2020, though that was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clerks were processing so many ballots Tuesday that it caused the computer system to slow down.

“Which is the best reason to ever have a slowdown of the software is the turnout being far above expectations,” said Zarda. “That's always good to see. Sure, it was a little frustrating at times, but our voters were very, very patient and very appreciative of the opportunity to early vote.”

The Wisconsin Elections Commission said it increased system capacity, but Haggert says it was still slow Wednesday, though not enough to turn people away.

“Everybody that has come here to vote has voted and today, it's been steady all day. I think at lunchtime, I think we had 83 and we probably have another same amount just in the last three hours,” said Haggert.

WEC said the slowness mostly impacted printing out labels that can be placed on the outside of in-person absentee certificate envelopes. This is not required for the voting process, though WEC said it does make the process more efficient.

“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,” WEC said in a statement.

WEC said it and state IT personnel are currently analyzing the data to learn more.

Zarda says the last day for early, in-person absentee voting in Rhinelander is November 1st. Days and hour you can vote in-person vary by clerk. You can find your clerk on the My Vote Wisconsin website.

Voters can still request ballots by mail, but Zarda urges people not to delay if that’s how they’re choosing to vote.

“With potential delays in the Postal Service, I recommend they do that as soon as possible,” said Zarda.

As always, you can vote at the polls on election day on November 5th.

Between the absentee ballot request and early in-person absentee voting so far, Haggert plans to have more poll workers on hand on election to help count.

Absentee ballots cannot be counted before election day in Wisconsin.

Katie Thoresen is WXPR's News Director/Vice President.
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