MADISON, Wis. — On the first day of in-person absentee voting in Wisconsin, nearly 97,000 individuals participated, resulting in lengthy waits at several voting locations. This situation was exacerbated by a computer system used by election clerks that struggled to handle the large volume of ballots being processed.
Both major political parties have been encouraging early voting, which contributed to the high turnout and the extended wait times that some voters experienced at clerks’ offices and polling stations throughout the state on Tuesday.
According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, a total of 97,436 people voted in person on Tuesday. This figure marks an increase from the 79,774 ballots cast on the first day of in-person voting in 2020, a year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in lower in-person voting numbers while absentee mail-in balloting was more prevalent.
As of Wednesday, the number of returned absentee ballots, which includes both mail and in-person submissions, reached 475,460. This is less than half of the approximately 1 million ballots that had been returned by the same time four years ago.
The unexpected surge of voters on Tuesday led to a slowdown of the WisVote system, which some clerks rely on for printing labels for in-person absentee ballots. The elections commission reported that efforts were swiftly made to enhance the system’s capacity to handle the demand.
“We went in, increased our server space and are planning to expand it further, anticipating that we might see high turnout again in the coming days,” stated Ann Jacobs, chair of the commission from the Democratic Party. She framed the delays positively, viewing the high voter participation as a “terrific” development.
“It’s great to see so many people engaged,” Jacobs commented. “While the system experienced some slowdown, it didn’t crash completely, and we’re optimistic that we can avoid similar issues moving forward.”
Dane County clerk Scott McDonell expressed that he was not shocked by the robust turnout, noting that similar trends had been observed in other states this election cycle.
Wisconsin remains a critical battleground state, where the competition between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is highly contested. This has led to significant campaign spending, a push for early voting, and increased appearances by candidates and their representatives in the area.
“These voters have been committed for some time,” McDonell remarked. “It appears that we’ve seen a higher number of Republicans voting early across the state, which is encouraging. Voting shouldn’t show any preference towards one party or another.”
Since voters in Wisconsin do not register by political affiliation, it is impossible to ascertain the exact number of ballots returned by Republicans versus Democrats at this time. McDonell anticipates that voter turnout will remain high for the next few days but will then likely taper off. He advised that individuals consider waiting a few days before casting their votes in person.