(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw 292,702 voters use in-person voting over the first three days, according to numbers released Friday morning.
In-person absentee voting runs through Nov. 3. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Wisconsin provides information on in-person absentee voting based upon address on its MyVote site.
Wisconsin has seen 715,395 combined mail-in absentee and in-person absentee ballots returned of the 921,832 that have been requested.
“The rate of in-person absentee appears to be at a higher rate than previous elections,” said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe. “Of course, it’s possible that the pace may slow in the days ahead, but the first three days of in-person absentee voting were exceedingly high.”
The total absentee numbers for 2024, including both mail-in and in-person ballots, are more than the total number of absentee votes cast in the general elections of 2016, 2018 and 2022.
“We knew this was a high-interest election, and so far, the absentee numbers are certainly demonstrating that,” Wolfe said. “Election officials across the state deserve enormous credit for their efficient and careful handling of the incredible rush of voters they have worked with his week.”
Dane County has seen 34,222 in-person voters while Waukesha has had 37,791, Milwaukee County has had 37,474 and Brown County has had 13,534.
The state has had in-person process delays from its WisVote ballot address label printing process early in the process, something the Wisconsin Elections Commission says is due to the system being overwhelmed due to a high number of voters.
The labels can also be affixed manually with a pen, the WEC said.
“The delays have only affected label printing times,” the WEC said in a statement. “Every other function of the system that clerks use to print is working optimally. At this time, there is no reason to believe this is affecting other areas of election administration or state government, nor is there any reason to believe the printing delays were caused by a cyberattack.”
The WEC said that it recommends local clerks that are experiencing delays in the system should switch to hand-writing the information like was done in 2020.
“Label printing is a newer and optional efficiency, but not critical to the administration of in-person absentee voting,” the WEC said.
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