Wisconsinites will start voting absentee Monday for the November 4 elections. You longer need an excuse to be gone to vote absentee and state officials expect 15% of all ballots to be cast that way. You can do it by mail, or at your municipal clerk’s office. Four years ago, about 12% of Wisconsin’s registered voters, or 365,000 cast absentee ballots.
State Republicans and their White House candidate John McCain are trying to get as many people to vote early as possible so they can key in on those who will wait until Election Day. The McCain camp, as well as the Wisconsin Republican Party, took heat when it gave some people to wrong place to file their absentee ballot requests. Democrat Barack Obama’s camp also encourages early voting. But for them, it’s not as critical as it is in other states, because there’s not an early deadline to get voters to register.
Wisconsinites can register on Election Day. But lots of folks are signing up in advance this year. As of August 30th, Wisconsin has processed about 154,000 new voter registrations, and 190,000 name-or-address changes.
