City Clerks Report Strong Early Voting Turnout

Wisconsin cities have been reporting good turnout for early voting since it started last Monday.

Kris Teske, the Green Bay city clerk, said that residents have been showing up at her office pretty steadily since early voting began.

“We had, actually, a couple people in line at 8 a.m. on Monday,” said Teske. “And there’s always somebody in here — so, that’s good.”

Teske said she’s had more than 700 voters come through her office last week. The total for early voting in Green Bay in 2010 was 1,123 but she said she’s confident that they’ll surpass that this year.

Maribeth Witzel-Behl, the Madison city clerk, said things in the capital have been bustling, too: “It looks like we’ll easily surpass our 2010 numbers next week,” she said.

By Friday afternoon, she had a little over 3,000 people come in to vote early, compared to a total of 5,500 in 2010. She said that’s probably a good sign for Election Day.

“We have found in the past that when absentee numbers are up, turnout tends to be up,” Witzel-Behl said. “So we are anticipating (that) on Election Day, we’re going to have high turnout.”

Early voting hours have been reduced to the two weeks before Election Day because of a state law that was signed by Gov. Scott Walker earlier this year. Early voting on nights and weekends were also cut.

Wisconsin residents can cast ballots early in-person at city clerks’ offices or by mailing in their absentee ballot.