'This is a test run for November': No issues reported at polls as voters cast their ballots

Wisconsin voters trickled into their polling places for Tuesday's primary, traditionally a low-turnout election.  

Newly confirmed Milwaukee Election Commission Director Claire Woodall-Vogg said voter turnout had been slow at in-person polling locations but that about 48,000 absentee ballots had been returned as of 4 p.m.

In past partisan primaries, the city would have about 7,500 absentee ballots returned, she said, with about 8,000 or 8,500 being issued. 

She said Tuesday afternoon that election workers and voters were reporting feeling safe being in-person at the polls.

Woodall-Vogg said the city saw a spike in absentee ballot requests for about a week and a half after it sent a mailing in July with information on how to register to vote and request an absentee ballot. 

“This is a test run for November, and we are learning a lot,” Woodall-Vogg said. “It felt like we were preparing for a presidential election day today with all of the organizing and distribution needs that go with putting out all the (personal protective equipment) at the polling places as well as preparing for our workers who may have had something come up over the weekend where they were exposed or might be symptomatic.” 

Woodall-Vogg said the Election Commission has learned that it will need to plan to build robust lists for chief inspectors and election inspectors for November.

She told the Journal Sentinel that the Election Commission isn't aware of any election workers who had COVID-19 but that four chief inspectors and three election inspectors had direct contact with someone who tested positive and had to isolate. None have experienced symptoms, and they are half way through their isolation, she said.

But that also meant that the Election Commission had to quickly fill those seven positions ahead of the election Tuesday. 

With 168 polling sites open compared to just five for the April vote and with the August primaries being low-turnout affairs, things were slow at the polls Tuesday.

Kathryn Helsper, chief inspector at Holler Park, remembers the lines of people who came out to vote in April. 

“It was very close quarters,” Helsper said. “It was constant movement but there were (people in) close quarters.” 

On Tuesday morning, Helsper said, they had only one person in line before the polls  opened and voters came in one-by-one without issue.  

At Ronald Reagan High School, all was calm in the early hours after the polls opened.  

Because there were more polls open voters did not have wait long, if at all, in a line. The chief inspector at Reagan, Jack Gaboury, said he hopes the city continues to increase the number of voting locations throughout the city as opposed to the few polling places that were open in April.  

“I think for November they’ll have more (polls) open,” Gaboury said. “In November, hopefully, they’re going to keep it this way ... and not combine them all. That would be really rough.” 

At each polling place, workers were given masks, sanitizer, face shields, gloves and boxes of pens to be given to voters. There was also a health checklist for workers to fill out to make sure no one working was sick or had any symptoms.  

Denise Bartlett, chief inspector at Garland Elementary School, has worked in almost every election over the last 20 years but decided not to work in April. 

“It was too new, too scary,” Bartlett said. “I have a husband with health conditions, so I did not work one of the five sites.”  

Voters have been going to Garland Elementary since 2016 but like a lot of polling places on Tuesday, things were slow. 

“This is the first time we have not had any voters in line waiting to get in,” Bartlett said, adding that of the 1,931 registered voters in that ward, fewer than 20 people had voted three hours after it opened.  

On the east side, Riverside High School, one of the few polling locations open during the April election that was swamped with long lines, was all quiet. Workers there said only 30 people had cast ballots there by 10 a.m. and they hadn’t experienced any issues.  

Other voting locations, at Villard Square library in Old North Milwaukee and Washington Park library on the west side, all reported less than 20 voters and no issues Tuesday morning. Workers there said all voters came wearing masks as well. 

Outside of Milwaukee County

In Waukesha, enough poll workers were trained in time to handle the expected turnout, and the relatively high number of absentee ballots were being distributed to the various polling places to ease the counting process.

City Clerk-Treasurer Gina Kozlik said, overall, the scenario has caused few problems, unlike the headaches of the spring election at the beginning of the COVID-19 emergency.

Her office mailed out about 12,000 absentee ballots, half of which were returned by Tuesday. That’s more manageable on balance than in April, but still high for a primary election day in August, she added.

Village of Germantown administrator Steve Kreklow reported village officials mailed out 3,645 absentee ballots and 2,261 were filled out and returned.

“This is significantly higher than we have seen for the previous primary elections,” said Kreklow. He said the last partisan primary — similar to this election — there were a total of 340 absentee ballots.

Masks were an issue for some poll workers in Germantown.

“Some have dropped out because they don’t want to wear masks and others have dropped out because we cannot require voters to wear masks,” Kreklow said.

Village of Sussex Clerk/Treasurer Sam Liebert said there were 1,512 absentee ballots issued for the primary election, which was down from 3,203 in April, which is typical. 

“Through social media, the village has actively encouraged residents to vote by mail during the ongoing pandemic,” said Liebert.

In Mukwonago, village officials said the situation was comparably positive, with less stress than the April election and voluntary compliance was strong in COVID-19 precautions.

“This has been a great day. No issues for us,” said Clerk Diana Dykstra. “Residents are happy to come in if they wear a mask or not. We are prepared and welcome them. We seem to notice about 80% of the voters seem to be wearing masks.”

Cathy Kozlowicz and Jim Riccioli contributed to this report