Surge in absentee voting reported ahead of Tuesday's Wisconsin partisan primary

[TexasTowelie]

Absentee voting ahead of Tuesday's election is outpacing early voting counts from other partisan primaries in recent years, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Monday.

A total of 98,568 absentee ballots had been cast statewide and reported to the commission as of Monday morning, spokesman Reid Magney said.

Early votes in just two counties — Dane with 16,796 and Milwaukee with 16,109 — account for more than one-third, or 33.38 percent of the preliminary tally. Waukesha County reported 10,163 absentee ballots.

The statewide number is nearly 13.5 percent larger than the final tally of 86,862 absentee ballots cast in the 2016 partisan primary, according to the commission. A total of 65,525 absentee ballots were cast for the general election primary in 2014, and 84,830 in 2012.

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/08/13/absentee-voter-turnout-surges-advance-tuesdays-primary/979031002/

[beachbum bob]

1. surprise no breakdown of party as this is a primary and you have to ask for democrat or republican

ballot I believe

[RandySF]

2. I think it's an open primary.

So we won't know the party breakdown until tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more Republicans because of the Senate primary.

[dragonlady]

3. Correct, we have an open primary n/t

[jodymarie aimee]

4. it is one piece of paper

with 5 parties on it... I was dismayed the Rs are first....You have to stay in your lane or ballot is ripped up.

[dragonlady]

5. The way to make sure your vote is counted

First mark the space that asks for your party. Then if you make the mistake of voting in a different party's section, your votes in your preferred party will still be counted while the other party votes are ignored. If you didn't identify your party, everything is lost.

The Rs are first because the order is decided by which party got the most votes for president or governor in the last general election. Elect a Democrat this year and we will be first next time. The whole thing is described at https://elections.wi.gov/node/107.

[jodymarie aimee]

6. Lady

Do you think many Rs will vote DEM to mess us up? Then in the general they will vote R...

[dragonlady]

7. Their Senate contest seems to be pretty hot

and there may be other contests down the ballot for them as well, so I'm hoping they stay on their own side today.

[dembotoz]

9. Perhaps vote totals prior to the count and the after they are added?

A rough idea

[33taw]

8. Ask for Paper ballots - don't trust electronic voting machines.