Mayor Barrett Reports on In-Person Absentee Voting Numbers
More than 6,000 in-person absentee ballots have been casted since September 26
Mayor Tom Barrett reported on the significant number of residents who have taken advantage of in-person absentee voting opportunities in Milwaukee.
Since September 26, more than 6,100 in-person absentee ballots have been submitted at the three early voting locations throughout the City.
“Our efforts are expanding access to voting opportunities throughout the City,” Mayor Barrett said. “I believe that democracy works best when more individuals get involved by voting. Please make sure you get out and exercise your constitutional right to vote.”
There are 725 hours of in-person absentee voting available in the City, including extended weekend and evening hours, that begin six weeks before the presidential election in November. That represents a 600% increase in hours from previous election years.
Along with offering early voting at the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building, both the Midtown Center (N. 56th St. and Capitol Drive) and Forest Home Library (1432 W. Forest Home Avenue) are in-person absentee voting sites. More than 2,100 individuals have early voted since the two additional locations began operations on Monday, October 10.
By the third week of early voting, there will be as many as 60 election workers between the three sites. By week six, that number will jump to 120. Bilingual election workers will be available at Forest Home Library.
An additional investment by the City of Milwaukee of $242,000 is being used to fund the operating costs and staffing requirements at all three sites.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently upheld U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin James Peterson’s ruling to lift previous restrictions to
in-person absentee voting. These restrictions included limitations to the number of days and hours that municipalities could make in-person absentee voting available to their residents.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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