Nearly 100,000 voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting • Wisconsin Examiner

On the first day of in-person early voting in Wisconsin, 97,436 people cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election. So many people voted on Tuesday that the state election software system slowed down, leading to long lines in some places.

The number of ballots cast on the opening day of early voting far exceeded the number of other recent elections. In the 2022 midterm elections, which included gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, 33,644 people voted on the first day of early voting. In the 2020 presidential election, 79,774 people were present on the first day of early voting.

Despite Tuesday’s high voter turnout, the popularity of mail-in voting in general still lags behind the 2020 presidential election, when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many voters to vote remotely.

After more than four years of Republicans and Donald Trump attacking the voting system and charging that all voting methods except the ballot box on Election Day were vulnerable to fraud, the GOP still encouraged Republicans to vote early this year.

Democrats have also encouraged people to vote early. On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee announced an advertising campaign targeting students at 30 college campuses across the country, including UW-Madison, promoting early voting. The City of Madison has six early voting locations at UW-Madison, Edgewood College and Madison College campuses.

In traditionally Republican-voting Waukesha County, 11,397 people cast their votes on Tuesday. Despite its status as a GOP stronghold, the county’s leftward shift has played a major role in Democrats’ victories in statewide elections in recent years.

Dane and Milwaukee counties, the largest Democratic counties in Wisconsin, saw the most early voting Tuesday, with 11,862 Dane County residents casting ballots and 12,282 Milwaukee County voters voting.

In a news release Tuesday afternoon, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) said higher-than-expected voter turnout on the first day of early voting had exhausted the capacity of the state’s WisVote system, which some municipal officials use to print an attached label on the outside of envelopes for personal certificates of absence.

“Today’s system delay was solely related to the demands on the WisVote system due to high voter turnout,” the press release states. “This should not prevent any voter from voting in person by absentee ballot today. WEC staff worked quickly to increase system capacity to ensure clerks can continue to efficiently facilitate in-person absentee voting.”

WEC Chairwoman Ann Jacobs said the agency has been working with the state’s Department of Enterprise Technology to increase the capacity of the WisVote system.

“So many of you voted to overload our computer systems! Great! “We have worked with the corporate technology department to create more server space, so everything should be running smoothly now,” she wrote. “We apologize for underestimating the incredible enthusiasm you all have for voting. This is an unprecedented turnout on the first day of in-person absentee voting!! Everything is fine in our WisVote system and you should be able to vote without any problems.”

Early personal postal voting is possible from now until the Saturday before the election. Hours and locations are determined by local municipal officials. Voters can learn how to vote early in their communities here MyVote.WI.Gov