MILWAUKEE— Milwaukee’s Hannah Gleeson is one of many Wisconsinites voting in-person for the 2021 primary.

She joins thousands more who will vote that way for the first time in two years.

“I love voting in-person,” she said.  “I’ve voted in every election since I was 18.”

Hannah’s story was much different during the 2020 primary. 

She contracted COVID-19 and couldn’t vote in-person without the risk of spreading the virus to others. She and her husband both requested absentee ballots by the state deadline, but never received them.  

“It felt like voter suppression at its finest,” Hannah recalled.

Hannah lives in Washington Heights; her polling place is Neeskara Elementary School. It’s just a few blocks from her home. She walked there to vote today with her 7-month-old daughter.

“It’s important to me for her to see this and to see this is a normal thing that we do,” she said. “To realize this is her civic duty.”

She reflected on the Wisconsinites who won’t be able to vote.

“I think of all the lives we lost to COVID,” Hannah said, holding back tears. “In a sense, it’s even more important now than it ever has been to make your voice heard.”