WISCONSIN — At least 97,436 ballots were cast on the first day of early voting in Wisconsin for the November election, according to Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) data.

What You Need To Know

  • At least 97,436 ballots were cast on the first day of early voting in Wisconsin for the November election

  • On the first day of early voting Tuesday, there were delays around the state amid high voter turnout

  • Nearly half a million absentee ballots have been returned so far in the Badger State for the November election

  • Wisconsin is a critical swing state, which means candidates have been targeting the state in a series of visits over the past few months

That’s higher than the last presidential election in 2020, when 79,774 were cast on the first day of early voting. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that year, in-person voting numbers were down while absentee voting by mail numbers were higher.

When broken down by some of Wisconsin’s largest counties, on Tuesday, Milwaukee County had over 12,000 people vote early; Dane County had over 11,000; Waukesha County also had over 11,000; Brown County had over 3,000.

Nearly half a million absentee ballots have been returned so far in the Badger State for the November election, with 475,460 returned. That is less than half of the more than 1 million that had been returned by that point four years ago.

On the first day of early voting Tuesday, there were delays around the state amid high voter turnout. Lines could be seen outside several locations.

WEC said the WisVote system, which clerks use to print a label for the outside of the in-person absentee certificate envelopes, was lagging due to the demand. WEC assured voters the issue would not occur again on Wednesday, as officials made sure to increase WisVote’s system capacity.

“We went in, increased our server space and are planning to increase it a little more assuming that past is prologue and we will have other days that will exceed this one," said Ann Jacobs, the commission's Democratic chair.

She put a positive spin on the delay, calling the large turnout that resulted in the problem “terrific.”

“Lots of people came out," Jacobs said. "The system slowed, it never went all the way down but it did slow quite a bit, we’re pretty confident it won’t happen again.”

Scott McDonell, the Dane County clerk, said he wasn't surprised by the high level of first-day voters given that it has also happened in other states this year.

Wisconsin is a critical swing state, which means candidates have been targeting the state in a series of visit over the past few months. Some of that has involved a push for early voting.

“These were all the voters who had their mind made up for some time,” McDonell said. "I think we saw across the state more Republicans voting early, which is a good thing. There shouldn't be a difference in how people vote.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has made seven visits to Wisconsin since becoming the Democratic nominee for president. Former President Donald Trump has made eight visits to the state since the beginning of the year. Both candidates’ vice presidential nominees have also made numerous stops in the state in support of Harris and Trump.

With Nov. 5 election less than two weeks away, Wisconsin remains split on both candidates in recent polling. 

Voters in Wisconsin don't register by party, so it's impossible to know how many Republicans and Democrats have returned ballots so far.

McDonell predicted that turnout will be high for a couple of days and then slow down. He recommended that voters wait a couple of days to vote in person.

You can sign up to become a poll worker in Wisconsin through the official Wisconsin Elections Commission website. 

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