System delays continue for early voting in Wisconsin
APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Early voting entered its second day in Wisconsin, but technical issues are still causing significant delays in some areas.
The City of Appleton confirmed in a press release that the state’s system used for in-person absentee voting is experiencing substantial slowdowns, leading to longer wait times for voters.
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“Your patience is appreciated as we wait for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to resolve these issues,” the release stated.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission encountered similar problems on the first day of early voting, attributing the slowness of the WisVote system to high voter turnout. Although the Commission announced that the issues had been resolved, the problems appear to have resurfaced.
Efforts are currently underway to identify the root cause and implement a solution as soon as possible.
“It is a statewide voter registration database, so with all the municipal clerks on the system, it slowed it down,” Village of Suamico municipal clerk Michelle Bartoletti said.
On Wednesday, WEC issued a statement explaining that other non-election online state systems were being affected by high voter turnout in addition to WisVote.
“The Wisconsin Elections Commission is aware of reports that some municipal clerks are continuing to experience slowness when printing labels that can be placed on the outside of in person absentee certificate envelopes,” the statement said. “WEC staff learned Wednesday that the system delay is not just affecting WisVote label printing – it appears to also be affecting some non-election related state systems as well. High levels of in-person absentee voting do still appear to be compounding the issue.”
Appleton residents said they waited in line for nearly an hour, while they say past in-person absentee voting usually takes less than 20 minutes. A woman in Fox Crossing reportedly collapsed at the municipal complex while waiting in line.
Despite the long wait times, voters are not deterred from casting their ballots.
“I thought it was going to take longer,” Appleton resident Carol Foss said of her 50-minute wait. “Get down here, this line is pretty easy to make through.”
“Get here early and be prepared to wait a little bit but it’s worth being in the presence,” David Gollata of Appleton said.
Over in Suamico, poll workers have entirely resorted to pen and paper for filling out the voter registration forms and stickers.
“We went old school, and we hand-wrote on the envelopes all of the information. And after the polls closed at 4:30, we processed for a couple of hours to make sure that the labels were printed and that they are in the system as early in person,” Bartoletti said. “We started at 7am, we had people out the door, all day was a steady line and we just had people moving through.”
Suamico officials processed 514 voters on Tuesday, a turnout they believe is on track to match or surpass the total of 6,000-plus absentee (mail-in and early) voters in 2020 for the village of 13,000.
Officials say that peak times are usually when the polls open, close and during the lunch rush. They say the best times to avoid a long wait is to go during mid-morning or mid-afternoon.
Early voting hours in Wisconsin vary by municipality, so be sure to check your municipalities’ website or listed hours for this year’s election.
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