Absentee Voting High in Brookfield, Less Than 2010 Gubernatorial Race

Mirroring a statewide trend, Brookfield is seeing heavy absentee voting but not quite at the level of the 2010 gubernatorial election between Scott Walker and Tom Barrett, records show.

As of early Wednesday morning, the city clerk's office had issued at total of 3,496 absentee ballots. Of those, 2,554 were completed and returned, and 942 were outstanding.

That volume far outweighs the total 1,007 absentee ballots cast in the May 8 recall primary for governor, which was largely a contest between Tom Barrett and Kathleen Falk. It is not as heavy as the total 4,042 absentee ballots cast in the November 2010 gubernatorial election between Walker and Barrett. 

In-person absentee voting in the clerk’s office runs through 5 p.m. Friday. Voter requests to receive an absentee ballot in the mail must be received by 5 p.m. Thursday. Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day June 5, and must be received by the clerk's office by 4 p.m. June 8.

"Absentee voting has been higher than both the April and May elections," City Clerk Kelly Michaels said, adding that was expected due to campaign pushes for "early voting."

"Wisconsin does not offer 'early voting' where ballots are independently cast into voter equipment in advance of Election Day as some states offer," Michaels said. "Wisconsin offers absentee voting for electors who are unable or unwilling to appear at the polls. The absentee ballot is sealed in a voter envelope which is then delivered to the polls to be opened and cast by a poll worker on behalf of the voter as if the voter were actually appearing in person."

Absentee voting carries costs, risks

Michaels said absentee voting adds costs and poses some ballot acceptance risk. Erroneously completed ballots are caught by voting machines on Election Day, giving voters the chance to get a new ballot so their votes count. Absentee ballots, entered in absence of the voter, do not allow that.

Statewide, absentee voting "continues to climb," state Elections Division Administrator Nat Robinson said in a news release Tuesday.

As of noon Tuesday, at least 130,391 absentee ballots had been issued by Wisconsin’s local election officials, according to the one-third of municipal clerks who track them in a statewide system, including all large cities.

That's nearly double the total 68,000 absentee ballots cast in the May 8 recall primary.

There were a total of 230,744 absentee ballots cast in the November 2010 General Election for Governor, and a total of 633,610 cast in the November 2008 General Election for President. These numbers include all ballots, not just those tracked in the statewide tracking system, and included an extra week of absentee voting.

With absentee voting and voting at the polls June 5, the state Government Accountability Board is predicting a total turnout of 60 to 65 percent of the voting age population – or approximately 2.6 to 2.8 million people.

, higher than the statewide turnout of 30 percent.