Interest in early, in-person absentee voting surged the most on the first day it was available largely in rural Wisconsin counties that backed Donald Trump in 2020.
Still, 12 of the 15 counties that reported fewer early, in-person votes cast Tuesday compared to the first day it was offered in 2020 also went for Trump four years ago.
And Dane County had — by far — the largest spike in terms of raw numbers of early, in-person votes cast, according to a WisPolitics review.
Amid a push by both sides to get voters to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day, the number of early, in-person votes cast Tuesday spiked to at least 97,436, according to reports local clerks submitted to the Elections Commission. By comparison, 79,774 were cast in 2020 on the first day early, in-person voting was offered.
Comparisons between the two elections can be somewhat difficult because 2020 was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic that pushed many voters to cast absentee ballots by mail. That year, nearly 2 million absentee ballots were counted, with 1.3 million of those received through the mail. In a typical election, early, in-person voting outpaces those requested and sent back via the mail.
Wisconsin also doesn’t identify voters by party registration, making it difficult to ascertain if spikes were driven by more Dems or Republicans heading to their early voting sites Tuesday.
With early, in-person voting running through Nov. 3, observers suggest it will likely take until next week to start discerning any real trends in the turnout. Still, the count from the first day provides a baseline for evaluating in-person early voting.
A spokesperson for the state Dem party said the early results so far don’t suggest there’s a “red wave” on the horizon, while state GOP Chair Brian Schimming said the party is “encouraged by the initial reports for early voting and grateful for the hard work of our volunteers and county chairs in mobilizing the base for this historic election.”
Four counties reported no early, in-person votes cast the first day it was offered in 2020. This year, Kewaunee, Marquette, Pepin and Rusk — all four of which went for Trump in 2020 — reported a combined 100 early, in-person votes.
After that, the biggest spike on a percentage basis was in Waushara County, where local clerks reported 162 early votes Tuesday, compared to 32 in 2020, an increase of 406%.
Menomonie and Ashland counties — both of which went for Joe Biden four years ago — had the next biggest increases. Clerks in Menomonie reported 36 early, in-person votes Tuesday, compared to nine in 2020, while Ashland reported 159, compared to 48.
In all, the 14 counties with the biggest increase on a percentage basis reported 1,161 more early, in-person votes cast Tuesday compared to the first day it was offered in 2020.
In the 15 counties that reported fewer early, in-person voting on the first day, the biggest drop percentage-wise was in Taylor County, where it decreased 82.5% to 14 Tuesday, compared to 80 in 2020. Manitowoc County saw 243 fewer early, in-person votes cast Tuesday compared to four years ago, the biggest dip in terms of raw numbers. Both went for Trump in 2020.
Overall, those 15 counties reported 1,110 fewer early, in-person votes compared to four years ago.
Dane County saw interest in early, in-person voting jump 57.9% compared to four years ago, an increase of 4,351 ballots.
Milwaukee County, another deep blue area key for Dems, reported 1,942 more early, in-person votes cast Tuesday compared to four years ago, an increase of 18.8%.
Along with those counties, the “WOW” and “BOW” regions have become key pieces of Wisconsin’s election puzzle.
Here are the changes in their early, in-person vote numbers for Tuesday compared to four years ago:
- Waukesha County, 1,311 more votes, an increase of 13%
- Ozaukee County, 439 more votes, an increase of 15.8%
- Washington County, 957 more votes, an increase of 24.8%
- Brown County, 254 more votes, an increase of 7.1%
- Outagamie County, 938 more votes, an increase of 32%
- Winnebago County, 151 more votes, an increase of 6.9%
The demand for early voting Tuesday created slowdowns with the state’s WisVote website, which prints out labels that can be placed on the outside of in-person absentee ballot envelopes. The Elections Commission said today the continued demand for early voting caused other computer slowdowns. See today’s report from the Ethics Commission on the absentee ballot numbers for all 72 counties.
Source link
