Wisconsin Could Cast More Than Three Million Votes

Wisconsin polls have been busy today, and election officials expect more than three-million voters to cast ballots.

Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy says if the stream of voters at the polls today continues into the evening, the number of ballots cast will exceed the just under three-million cast in 2008.In some places, voters are waiting for as long as an hour, but Kennedy says the long lines and a few jammed ballot machines have been the only problems today at the polls.

“We’ve been hearing that is has been a very steady, very busy day but relatively, um, peaceful. The kind of problems we are seeing have more to do with the fact that a lot of people are coming to vote.”

It has been raining today in Milwaukee and many other parts of the state. Neil Albrecht directs Milwaukee’s Election Commission and says he hopes the increased turnout will continue into the evening, despite more rain in the forecast. Albrecht says city polling places have been instructed to keep voters as dry as possible.

“We have instructed our chief inspectors wherever possible to maintain lines, if lines form, inside the buildings and to avoid having voters stand in line outside of a voting site just because it is unseasonably cold today and weather conditions are not at their best,” he says.

Polls will be open until 8:00 tonight. Anyone who is in line at that time will be allowed to vote.