(The Center Square) – Milwaukee and 34 other Wisconsin jurisdictions will have a central count location for absentee ballots, meaning all of the ballots in those spots will be counted collectively and added to unofficial voting counts after the Election Day in-person votes.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said Tuesday morning that means those results could arrive in the early morning hours of Wednesday.
In all, 1.6 million voters cast in-person and requested mail-in absentee votes in the state. As of Tuesday morning, Milwaukee reported that 106,750 absentee ballots had been returned in the city. Those can still be returned before 8 p.m. Tuesday to be counted.
Wisconsin had 955,906 in-person absentee votes and 584,382 had returned mail-in absentee ballots as of numbers posted on Tuesday morning.
“It will take as long as it takes,” Wolfe said about the process, stating that accuracy is far more important than timeliness on the results.
Wisconsin law does not allow pre-processing of early absentee votes until the polls open on Election Day. Counting can begin at that time and must continue until all ballots are counted at the central absentee counting centers.
Wisconsin has 3,658,236 active registered voters of the estimated voting age population of 4,713,323.
Voters can register on Election Day at the polls. Voters must bring a drivers’ license or identification and proof of residence to register.
“More than half of the voters may be voting at the polls today,” Wolfe said.
Municipalities that do not use a separate central count facility have the absentee ballots sent to individually polling places, where they are counted.
After voting is completed, the results for each of the 72 Wisconsin counties will be posted on a county website.
The WEC does not post consolidated statewide results.
Wolfe said that she is aware polls and counting will be closely monitored in the state on Tuesday, nationally and by poll watchers. Each of the municipalities with a central count facility are required to post the number of absentee ballots received after polls close, allowing the public to know how many absentee votes to expect to be added to the unofficial vote counts.
