Wisconsin Voters Line Up For First Day Of Early In-Person Voting
MADISON, Wis. (AP/WCCO) — Voters across Wisconsin lined up Tuesday to cast their ballots on the first day of early in-person voting in the presidential battleground state.
The window to vote early and in-person will remain open for 11 days, until Nov. 1, and none of the ballots can be counted until after polls open at 7 a.m. on Election Day, which is Nov. 3.
Locations and times to vote Tuesday varied across the state, but lines were reported shortly after polls opened in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and Sheboygan. Voters can also drop off completed absentee ballots at locations around the state, including in specially installed drop boxes in some larger cities.
With the coronavirus surging in Wisconsin, many people have been seeking alternate ways to vote than having to deal with crowded polling stations on Nov. 3. As of Tuesday, more than 915,000 voters had returned absentee ballots. That is 30% of the total votes cast in the 2016 presidential election.
They have social distancing signs on the floor and they are sanitizing things in-between voters. Many chose to vote early thinking there would be shorter lines and more coronavirus protection than on Election Day.
Over in Milwaukee, there were people seen waiting in long lines. The city has fourteen early voting sites and residents can vote in any of them even if they don't live in that district.
The campaigns of President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, were encouraging their supporters to vote early in Wisconsin, which Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes four years ago. Trump held a rally in the southern Wisconsin community of Janesville on Saturday.
Biden said in a statement Tuesday that if voters can cast their ballots early, they should.
"You can be one of the first to move our country forward," he said.
Wisconsin Democrats kicked off a "What's at Stake" bus tour to encourage early voting, with stops planned Tuesday in Madison and Waukesha before hitting eight other cities through Sunday.
A coalition of local and national Black leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Justin Blake, the uncle of Jacob Blake who was shot by Kenosha police in August, began a 33-mile march early Tuesday morning from Kenosha to Milwaukee. The rally was to mark the first day of early voting along with calls for justice against police violence, organizers said.
Republicans scheduled a virtual "Get Out the Early Vote" rally with their supporters. U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil planned to vote in Janesville as part of the GOP effort to encourage voting early.
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