FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Wisconsin elections officials say voters have requested more than 900,000 absentee ballots for today’s primary, more than seven times what they requested in the last August primary in 2018.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission released data Monday that shows voters have requested 903,760 ballots. More than half-a-million — 506,709 — have been returned.
Voters requested 123,393 ballots in the 2018 primary and returned 106,663.
The city of Neenah has had more than 4,700 requests for absentee ballots.
“That is way over what we normally would have for a partisan primary. This is generally a small turnout for election,” Stephanie Cheslock, Neenah’s clerk, said.
The city of Fond du Lac has issued more than 5,000 absentee ballots for the partisan primary. In 2016, the city sent around 900 ballots, according to City Clerk Maggie Hefter.
Clerks say COVID-19 is responsible for the increase.
Menasha is no exception. The city has received about 2,200 ballot requests, more than 10 times its average.
“We’ve seen an increase due to the pandemic taking effect on what voters, how voters are looking to vote,” Menasha City Clerk Haley Krautkramer said.
April’s election brought long lines, confusion and lost or delayed absentee ballots across the state.
But these clerks say they’re processing ballots just fine.
“It’s been a pretty steady increase of absentees coming through our office but nothing that isn’t manageable,” Krautkramer said.
Hefter tells FOX 11 so far, all issues have been resolved.
“We have a good working relationship with our postmaster for the Fond du Lac post office. We’ve maybe heard from one or two voters that they haven’t received their ballot in the mail, but the rest of them have gotten them. Somewhere it’s just lost in the mail. They do go to Milwaukee and are processed through a high speed mailing machine, so it’s possible they got chewed up in the machine.”
Polling places for those wanting to vote in person will be open today from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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