Wisconsin early voting numbers tallied

Madison — Less than three weeks out from the Nov. 8 elections, the number of absentee ballots issued to voters is running just under 40% of the total issued in the entire election season of 2012.

Local officials said they're seeing strong interest in voting amid rules that were revised and expanded following a recent federal court ruling.

"It's pretty significant that we're past a third of the way to our previous numbers and we still have the two busiest weeks left," said Neil Albrecht, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

The Wisconsin Election Commission released statewide numbers Friday, saying that 289,400 ballots have been issued to voters by mail and in person, with 223,600 of those returned so far.

It's not possible to do an apples-to-apples comparison with the last presidential election, since there isn't a figure available for the ballots issued as of Oct. 21, 2012, only the total issued at the end of that election, which was 736,600 ballots issued ahead of election day and 680,600 returned.

So far, the number of absentee ballots issued to Wisconsin voters by mail and in person at the offices of local clerks is running at just over 39% of the total issued in 2012.

On a conference called Friday organized by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign, Racine Mayor John Dickert said absentee voting is up in his city and voters are pleased with new options available in the wake of a court decision that blocked state-imposed limits on absentee voting. GOP lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker approved those limits, but a federal judge recently struck them down following a lawsuit by a liberal group that said they represented an undue burden on voting rights.

Before the July ruling, cities and large villages generally had uniform absentee voting hours because of state law. Local clerks now have more flexibility and the days and hours for in-person absentee voting differ more from one municipality to the next.

The race between Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump has taken an unusually harsh tone, but that hasn't seemed to affect the willingness of voters to turn out in some of the state's largest cities.

In Madison, the city clerk's office has seen more than 27,000 absentee ballots cast by voters both by mail and in person.

In Milwaukee, Albrecht said that 14,859 ballots have been cast early by voters showing up to locations set up by the election commission. That's nearly half the total cast of 32,000 in 2012, though in that year state law limited the opportunities for absentee voting to two weeks before the election.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we finish up with somewhere between 50,000 and 55,000 early votes," Albrecht said.

That doesn't automatically translate into larger voting numbers overall, because voters may simply be casting a ballot early rather than on election day. But Albrecht said he's seeing signs of strong voter interest.

"We are seeing people who have never voted before who are adults and people whose records had become inactive," he said.