Wisconsin voters line up to cast early in-person ballots
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Voters across Wisconsin lined up Tuesday to cast their ballots on the first day of early in-person voting in the presidential battleground state.
The window to vote early and in-person will remain open for 11 days, until Nov. 1, and none of the ballots can be counted until after polls open at 7 a.m. on Election Day, which is Nov. 3.
Locations and times to vote Tuesday varied across the state, but lines were reported shortly after polls opened in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and Sheboygan. Voters can also drop off completed absentee ballots at locations around the state, including in specially installed drop boxes in some larger cities.
With the coronavirus surging in Wisconsin, many people have been seeking alternate ways to vote than having to deal with crowded polling stations on Nov. 3. As of Tuesday, more than 915,000 voters had returned absentee ballots. That is 30% of the total votes cast in the 2016 presidential election.
The campaigns of President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, were encouraging their supporters to vote early in Wisconsin, which Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes four years ago. Trump held a rally in the southern Wisconsin community of Janesville on Saturday.
Biden said in a statement Tuesday that if voters can cast their ballots early, they should.
“You can be one of the first to move our country forward,” he said.
Wisconsin Democrats kicked off a “What's at Stake” bus tour to encourage early voting, with stops planned Tuesday in Madison and Waukesha before hitting eight other cities through Sunday.
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