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More than 240,300 absentee ballots have been cast so far, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.
Today is the last day of early voting for the November 4th general election. The state elections agency says, of the 240,308 ballots cast through Friday morning, 173,361 of them were cast in clerks’ offices. Nearly 67,000 were cast by mail or other methods of absentee voting. There were 22,462 absentee ballots issued that had not yet been returned.
Wisconsin’s chief election official Kevin Kennedy says, “We have surpassed early voting numbers for the 2012 recall election, and will likely surpass all absentee voting for the recall.” In June 2012, there were 153,854 in-person (early) absentee votes and 265,427 total absentee votes. Kennedy cautioned that the absentee numbers released are partial and preliminary.
Voters who hope to cast their vote before Tuesday should check with their local clerk for hours. In-person absentee voting must end by 7 p.m., but clerks have the option to close earlier.
The GAB projects about a 57 percent voter turnout for the 2014 general election — or 2.5 million eligible Wisconsin residents. That would be a record for a November gubernatorial election.
Historically, the highest voter turnout in a November gubernatorial election in the last 50 years was 52.4 percent in 1962. Turnout in the June 2012 recall was 2,516,371 voters, or 57.8 percent.