Early voting in Wisconsin sees 40% increase, election officials say

Early voting in Wisconsin has increased by nearly 40% over 2020 as of Friday, Wisconsin elections officials said.

Early in-person absentee voting began Tuesday in the state, and as of Friday morning 292,702 people had voted, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said. That's compared to 209,665 as of the morning of Friday, Oct. 23, 2020.

Nearly 1 million absentee ballots have been requested by Wisconsin voters and morethan 715,000 ballots have already been returned to clerks, either by mail or by those voting in-person absentee, elections officials said.

More: Here are locations, dates and times for Milwaukee and the suburbs for early voting

Voters cast a total of some 640,100 absentee ballots in 2008, then 665,340 absentee ballots in 2012; 824,736 absentee ballots in 2016; and about 1.9 million absentee ballots in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Election officials said Friday that 921,832 total absentee ballots had requested so far for the 2024 election.

"The rate of in-person absentee appears to be at a higher rate than previous elections," said Meagan Wolfe, WEC Administrator and the state’s chief election official. “Of course, it’s possible that the pace may slow in the days ahead, but the first three days of in-person absentee voting were exceedingly high."

Early in-person absentee voting continues through Sunday, Nov. 3. Hours and days vary by municipality.

More: Republicans cut into Democrats' early voting edge. What it means for the race.

In order to be counted, all absentee ballots must be received by local clerks by 8 pm on Election Day, which is Tuesday Nov. 5.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Early voting in Wisconsin sees 40% increase, election officials say