Printing delays for some local clerks persist in Wisconsin early voting

Some local election officials in Wisconsin on Thursday morning continued to report delays in the system they use to print labels for the outside of the envelopes into which early in-person absentee ballots are inserted.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission on the first day of early in-person voting Tuesday said higher-than-expected turnout caused a slowdown in the system some clerks use to print the labels.

Even after a system update Wednesday evening delays in printing time have continued Thursday and agency staffers are continuing to troubleshoot the issue, according to a Wisconsin Elections Commission statement.

"The delays have only affected label printing times," according to the statement. "Every other function of the system that clerks use to print is working optimally. At this time, there is no reason to believe this is affecting other areas of election administration or state government, nor is there any reason to believe the printing delays were caused by a cyberattack."

According to the Elections Commission, printing labels isn't required for in-person absentee voting but helps make the process more efficient. The state agency on Wednesday evening recommended that clerks who are continuing to experience delays Thursday write the information onto the envelopes by hand until the delays are resolved.

More than 97,000 people turned out Tuesday on the first day of early in-person voting across Wisconsin, according to the Elections Commission.

Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Printing delays for some Wisconsin clerks persist in early voting