Deadline to Register Online for the November 3rd Election is Wednesday, October 14th

Thursday, October 8th, 2026 -- 12:00 PM

The November 3rd Elections are right around the corner and there are a few things voters should know.

I spoke with Melissa Kono, Municipal Clerk Specialist with the UW-Madison Local Government Education Center, and she provided several reminders including the upcoming online voter registration deadline.

Listen to the interview with Melissa here!

Again, the best place to go for voting information is the https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/ website.

(AI assisted transcription via Otter.ai)

Melissa: "Yep, you took the words right out of my mouth. It is quick and easy to check registration status and update registration or register for the first time on the MyVote.wi.gov website."

"That is the official website for the public to use to both register to vote, but also request an absentee ballot. Now, the ability to register online through the My Vote site ends on October 14th, which I know is a bit unfortunate because I think people are just gearing up right before the election to you know check their registration."

"But unfortunately, the online registration part of that website is only through October 14th. So, I highly encourage anyone who is registering for the first time, or perhaps maybe needs to change their registration because they have maybe moved, that they should do that online if possible by October 14th."

"Now, certainly after the 14th, there are still other ways to do that. They can register to vote with their municipal clerk and they can find that information on the My Vote website."

"And also in Wisconsin, we have same-day registration, so even on election day, voters can register at the polling place. But it is super convenient to register ahead of time because then their name will be on the poll list when they go in to vote on election day."

Riley: "And now let's talk a little bit about absentee voting because we are, you know, November elections are right around the corner, and we are getting kind of down to the wire when it comes to that absentee voting or mail-in voting, whatever the case may be, can you touch on that a little bit?"

Melissa: "Yeah. So, absentee ballots are available now. Also, can request those on the My Vote site now until the Thursday before the election. But certainly, do not want to wait until then, just because the mail can be a bit slow these days."

"So, if you think you're going to want to vote absentee, request that now on the MyVote.wi.gov site, and you can also request it from your clerk. But it's super easy to request it on the MyVote site, and you can track it there."

"You can see when the clerk received the request, when the ballot was mailed out, and then also when they receive the ballot back from the voter. So, if you think that's what you might want to do, then I highly suggest requesting that now."

"They need to be back to the clerk by the time the polls close at 8 p.m. on election day and just keep in mind the mailing time for that, so a ballot to get to you and then also to get back to the clerk can take a while. So plan ahead now."

Riley: "And now some clerks do offer some early in-person voting. Can you talk about that?"

Melissa: "Yeah. So, all municipalities in Wisconsin are to offer in-person absentee voting that starts 14 days before the election, and then there's no in-person absentee voting that day before the election, which is a Monday. But you can find the hours that your clerk offers in-person absentee voting."

"They either can do that via office hours or by appointment, and that information can be also found on the MyVote.wi.gov site, and also contact information for the clerk if you want to set up an appointment. But that is just a 14-day window of time right before the election that that particular service is offered."

Riley: "And now, when people go to vote, what do they need to bring to the polls?"

Melissa: "Yeah. So, in Wisconsin, we require a photo ID, and the list of eligible photo IDs is pretty short. So, a Wisconsin driver's license or photo ID card, a Wisconsin University Tech School College student ID card, a U.S. passport or passport card can be used. Tribal ID, uniform service member veteran's ID card; those can be used for photo ID purposes."

So, that's also something people might want to plan ahead for if they maybe don't know where their driver's license or photo ID is, because again, the DMV here in Wisconsin, they typically in rural areas offer office hours only a few days a week, and that's pretty limited."

"It's also something to plan ahead for. You can update driver's license information online, but but just plan ahead because you will need a valid photo ID at the polls on election day."

Riley: "And now we've talked a lot about how people can vote on election day, but if they go to vote, what what will they see on the ballot?"

Melissa: "Yeah, so ballot information can be found on the MyVote.wi.gov website, so you can see what your ballot will look like on election day. But across Wisconsin, we have the race for governor and lieutenant governor."

"Our U.S. Congress seats are up. Some of the state senate seats are up. All of the Wisconsin assembly seats, and then the county constitution offices of clerk of court, sheriff, and then a coroner if the county has a coroner."

"Then there are three statewide referendums on the ballot, and then depending on where the voter lives, there might be other referendums, such as a school referendum."

"So, if you go on myvote.wi.gov, you can see that information ahead of time, do some research, and decide how you want to vote on election day. You should also bring a valid ID, as we talked about. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on November 3rd."

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.