Clark County UW-Extension CNRED Agent Explains Voting in Upcoming Election
Thursday, September 17th, 2020 -- 2:57 PM
Voting in the November 3rd Election:Q: “I’m speaking with Melissa Kono from the UW-Extension Office in Clark County. The Elections Commission is going to be sending out a mailer if you’re a registered voter. Can you talk about that?”
Melissa: “On September 1st the Elections Commission sent a letter out to all registered voters in Wisconsin, giving them some information about the upcoming election in November and information on how to request an absentee ballot. There’s several ways to do that. Voters can return that mailer to the Elections Commission. If they don’t receive the mailer or if they would rather go online, they can go to myvote.wi.gov and request an absentee ballot that way. They’ll also need to upload a picture of a proper photo ID, so either a driver’s license or the Wisconsin issued photo ID card. They could also use a passport or student ID card from a Wisconsin school, veteran’s ID card, travel ID card, those are things that work for a photo ID. If they choose to mail the flyer back, they’ll need to provide a photo ID as well to receive a ballot.”
Q: “With everything going on, it being in the middle of a pandemic or people may be concerned about their vote being counted, if they were to receive a ballot by mail, what would you recommend if they are concerned about that? They’re concerned about going to the polls or they’re concerned that their ballot will be counted?”
Melissa: “I think each voter needs to make a decision about what the best way to vote is for them personally. If they feel more comfortable with receiving an absentee ballot, that is a great option. Ballots will be available September 17th to be mailed. So, I suggest that people, if they’re thinking about voting absentee, to request an absentee ballot as soon as possible. That way they can get mailed to them, the voter will receive it and vote. They’ll also need a witness signature and the witness to provide an address. A lot of times I see ballots returned and a voter has forgotten that step. The writing on the absentee envelope is really small and squished together, so it can be confusing. So, people need to really read it carefully. And then they can either hand deliver their ballot to their municipal clerk. Some places to have ballot drop off locations, especially some larger areas will have locations where people can drop off ballots. Otherwise, people can return it by mail. And then the Wisconsin Elections Commission has implemented this great online tool where people can track their absentee ballots. So, they can see if their clerk has received their request, sent out the ballot and then received their ballot back once the voter has mailed it back in. So, that’s also a good way to track the absentee ballot and know where it is.”
Q: “Another thing I’d like to talk about is in regards to early voting because that falls within a certain time frame. Can you talk more about that?”
Melissa: “A recent court decision in July has limited the in-person absentee voting or early voting as it’s sometimes referred to to the 14 days prior to the election. So, some municipalities would have it open for longer periods of time than that. But now it’s limited to those 14 days right before the election. Sometimes places will have posted hours on when people can come in and vote. Otherwise, people can make an appointment with their municipal clerk and vote as in-person absentee voting. The voter still fills out their ballot and puts it in an absentee envelope. And then that’s open on election day and cast in the box with all the other ballots.”
Q: “Another thing I wanted to touch on too is if we get to election day and someone decides they do want to vote in person, but they’re not registered, can you explain that process?”
Melissa: “In Wisconsin we do offer same day voter registration on Election Day. People do have up until 20 days prior to the election to register to vote either on MyVote or with their municipal clerk by mail. After that, they can still register to vote with their clerk up to the Friday before the election. And then on Election Day, people can still go in and register. Now we have a 28 day residency requirement and sometimes people have moved during that time or maybe moved this time of year and they’re waiting to get a utility bill or something that proves their residence. So, we still have the ability to register on Election Day in Wisconsin.”
Q: “Another thing I wanted to touch on is that with a pandemic going on, people may experience some long lines at the polls. As long as they get to that polling place by the time it closes, which is 8pm, they can still vote as long as they are still in line as of 8pm.”
Melissa: “That is correct. Anyone still in line at 8pm is allowed to vote.”
Q: “Is there anything else?”
Melissa: “One thing that I’m seeing that is causing some confusion is that some third parties have been sending out either voter registration applications or absentee ballot applications and some of these groups are doing it in a very misleading way. I had one voter that thought that the mailing had come from me and it wasn’t from me. And this is prior to the Elections Commission sending out their letter earlier this week. The problem with that is that a lot of the post cards that I’m getting back do not contain the correct information and voters also still need to provide a photo ID even when requesting an absentee ballot. And some of the mailers that I’ve received back don’t make that very clear unlike the Elections Commission Official Mailing, which details, in over two pages, what voters need to do. So, I just want people to be cautious about the mail that they are receiving and only use official either voter registration application or the MyVote system to either register to vote or request an absentee ballot. And that’s sent by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.”
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.