APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Appleton City Hall has been buzzing with early in-person absentee voters this week, as the state opened up the opportunity to cast an early ballot in person on Tuesday.
“[It was] quite the rush early in the morning right away, and then it remained steady throughout the day. We saw a total of 470 people that came to vote in-person absentee [on Tuesday],” said Appleton City Clerk Kami Lynch. “The first days are always really busy, and then it kind of slows down so it’s just kind of steady. I think it’ll be steady, but Fridays and Mondays are always the busiest…We are closing our in-person absentee on Thursday, the 29th. So I’m definitely anticipating that will be our busiest day.”
Over 200 people showed up on Wednesday as well. Getting all of those people through takes a solid process, especially as the city only permits 20 people on the sixth floor at a time. That’s where the voting actually takes place.
“That just allows for spacing and to make sure there are not too many people in one place at a time…..The system that we have in place is working really well,” Lynch explained. “So there were lines that went through the first floor of city hall, out to Appleton street, and a little bit around the corner for periods of time.”
That system connects the clerk’s office to an employee who is working the elevators on the first floor. That person sends groups upstairs as others finish casting their ballots.
Lynch predicts the number of absentees will likely reach similar numbers to 2016.
“The last presidential election we saw 8,000 people come in, in three weeks, because the law is different allowed for that,” Lynch said. “We are expecting to be it’s somewhat near those numbers, maybe a little lower because so many people have received their ballots by mail already.”
With all of the absentee traffic already coming through, Lynch also believes Election Day itself won’t be quite as busy as usual. But that also means lines could be longer for those voting ahead of November 3rd.
“With so many people already voting absentee, we don’t expect the polls to be very busy on Election Day,” Lynch said. “Be patient and expect some lines because of the number of people that we can safely accommodate. So they might have to wait in line a little bit longer if they do that in-person absentee route than they would at their polling place.”
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