Here & Now

Commissioner Urge People to Drop Ballots off in Drop Boxes

Frederica Freyberg:

Amid the crush of absentee ballots in Wisconsin, the U.S. Supreme Court this week ruled election clerks across the state must only count those ballots that arrive by November 3, Election Day. Democrats wanted to extend the time ballots could be counted if they were postmarked by Election Day, citing the sheer number of ballots and slow mail delivery. The Wisconsin Elections Commission reports of the nearly 1.9 million absentee ballots requested, some 223,000 have not yet been returned. The only sure way to return them now, four days before election day, is to put them in official drop boxes or you can hand-deliver them to your municipal clerk’s office. You can take your absentee ballot to your regular polling place on Election Day, but that method is not allowed in all areas around the state. Go to the Wisconsin Elections Commission website to see if your locality allows polling place drop off. That’s at elections.wi.gov. Voters cannot vote in person if they have already mailed in their completed absentee ballot. The Elections Commission says when in doubt, follow the directions that came with your absentee ballot.