Jeramey Jannene
Photo Gallery

Drive-Up Voting

City service runs through this weekend, offers alternative to mail-in and in-person voting.

By - Apr 3rd, 2020 06:39 pm
Drive-up voting in Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Drive-up voting in Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Thousands of Milwaukeeans have opted to vote early in the April 7th Spring Election through a new city service – drive-up voting.

The service, created as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced the city’s three in-person early voting facilities that were closed on March 22nd. The drive-up service has been operational since March 28th outside the Zeidler Municipal Building at 841 N. Broadway.

City poll workers, all wearing masks, bring the ballot to your vehicle and pick it up. The ballot, technically an absentee ballot, is then sealed by the poll workers, who also provide the necessary witness signature.

Milwaukee Police Department officers provide traffic control, with the backed-up line of cars wrapping around Red Arrow Park.

Urban Milwaukee had a front-row seat to see the service in action Friday morning.

My wife’s mail-in absentee ballot, despite being requested a week earlier than mine, still hadn’t arrived as of Friday morning. Rather than hoping a reissued one would arrive, she opted to try out the drive-thru process.

It’s easy, but not nearly as fast as voting traditionally is in Milwaukee. Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Neil Albrecht estimated that voters should expect to spend approximately 40 minutes in line. Our result? 47 minutes. My suggestion: bring a book, queue up some podcasts or plan to call a friend on the phone while you wait.

The service will be available Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m.

You must be registered to vote to use the service as of the state’s March 30th online registration deadline.

Unregistered voters can register in-person the day of the election at their polling site. The city, due to a shortage of over 1,000 election workers, has reduced its normal 180 polling sites down to only five. Voters can find theirs by visiting the state’s My Vote WI website.

Voters that have voted absentee are recommended to drop off their ballots at one of five city drop sites to avoid potential delays in the ballots being received by mail.

If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.

More about the 2020 Spring Primary

Read more about 2020 Spring Primary here

More about the Coronavirus Pandemic

Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here

Categories: Photo Gallery, Politics

One thought on “Photo Gallery: Drive-Up Voting”

  1. Jeffjay60 says:

    Wow! That is a lot of scrolling t get to the comments section. Anyway, after I got off of my magic carpet (The Hop), it took me less than five minutes to get my absentee ballot witnessed and deposited. I appreciate the efforts made by the folks that are doing this for us, including the police officers directing traffic.

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us