Since Tuesday, voters in Madison have been going to early voting sites in order to drop off ballots and cast votes in person before election day.
The Madison clerk’s office is one of five sites in the city that are open today where residents can go in order to vote early. The Memorial Union, Hawthorne Library, Meadow Ridge Library, and the Madison Public Library Central branch were also open today.
But not all early voting sites that are usually open for early voting, were not today because of inclement weather.Those five other sites are Madison college, Sequoia Library, Goodman Library, Lake View Library, and the Alisha Ashman library. Errol, who was waiting in line at the Hawthorne Library, said that he went to one of the other sites before realizing it was closed. Errol said that even if he thought the process was inefficient, he felt that voting was worth the wait.
Starting October 20th, two days ago, Wisconsin residents have the option to vote early at select locations. Those same voters had the option to request an absentee ballot through the mail, then fill out the ballot and either mail it back or deliver it themselves to a predetermined location.
When asked why they had chosen to vote in person, some said they forgot to request a ballot. Others stated they were still waiting for absentee ballots to come, or that they were concerned that their ballot would be thrown out, while some said this was just part of their voting ritual.
More than 75,000 Wisconsinites took advantage of early in-person voting on Tuesday, and the Madison Clerk’s Office reports that as of last night, more than 4,500 people have voted early in person.
Statewide, more than 1 million mail-in absentee ballots have been returned. More than 100,000 mail-in absentee ballots have been sent out by the Madison Clerk’s Office; three-fourths have already been returned.
