Here & Now

GAB Director on Early Voting in Wisconsin

Frederica Freyberg:
But first, ten more days until the general election. Early voting started this week. How’s that going? And what’s in store for voters at the polls on Election Day? We take those questions to the guy in charge of elections in the state, Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the Government Accountability Board. And thanks a lot for being here.

Kevin Kennedy:
Thank you. Glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:
So give us a sense of the numbers of people voting early in Wisconsin.

Kevin Kennedy:
Well, we have a large number. We don’t have it complete, but well over 200,000 people have already applied for absentee ballots as of the middle of the first week of in-person voting. Probably on the same pace that we saw in 2008.

Frederica Freyberg:
And the time frame is shorter this time around.

Kevin Kennedy:
It is shorter. It’s about ten days shorter in terms of in-person voting. Absentee ballots have been available since the middle of September, and they’ve been going out. Most of the ballots right now have well over 100,000 ballots that have been put in the mail for voters, and we expect to be on very much the same pace that we saw in 2008, even with the shortened time period.
Frederica Freyberg:
And when does it end for that in-person voting?

Kevin Kennedy:
Close of business on Friday, November 2nd. Some places will close at 4:30. Others may stay open till 5, 6 or 7:00.

Frederica Freyberg:
And now, for people who go to the polls on November 6th, election day, what kind of changes should they expect?

Kevin Kennedy:
Well, there will be a number of changes. One, if you’re registering to vote at the polls on election day, you will not be able to use a witness to corroborate your residency. You will have to use a current document. And we have those listed on our Web site at myvote.wi.gov, and we encourage you to look at that. If you’re used to voting a straight party ticket, that will be gone this year. That’s no longer an option for voting in Wisconsin. And if you haven’t been voting in the last two years, you have to sign the poll list. You state your name, address and before you get the ballots, you sign your name next to where it is on the poll list.

Frederica Freyberg:
And in terms of that corroboration going out the door, and people won’t be able to do that anymore. Give us one example of a document that someone could use to show their place of residence.

Kevin Kennedy:
Well, driver’s license and state identification cards are good, but usually utility bills are what people are using because people who are registering, many of them have just moved into their new location and you have to establish your residence with a current utility bills is one of the best forms.

Frederica Freyberg:
Does it have to be a piece of paper? Could it be, you know, on a smartphone or some kind of online bill?

Kevin Kennedy:
You can certainly use an online bill if it’s one of the acceptable proofs of residence. Our poll workers are going to record the type that’s provided, as well as any number that’s associated with that, such as an account number. That’s one of the ways we use to verify that we’ve done that with paper. We’ll do that with the electronic version as well.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, we know that this election is a dead heat kind of top of the ticket, and on down. Can we expect poll watchers from the various camps to be on site on election day, and what are the rules for those people?
Kevin Kennedy:
Wisconsin’s always been very transparent in its process. We allow any member of the public other than a candidate to observe the process. But observers have to behave themselves. They can’t interfere with the process. We encourage, we say, that your communication is limited to the chief inspector, the poll worker in charge, unless you’re asking to hear a person’s name. We set some standards six feet away from the area that they’re observing. We don’t want them leaning over someone’s shoulder while they’re casting the ballot. They want to be able to– so they can see the public aspect. They can hear the voters state their name and address. They can note that the poll workers are doing their job. And if they’re not going to follow those rules, the poll workers are in power to throw them out.

Frederica Freyberg:
Have we seen problems with that in the past?

Kevin Kennedy:
We have seen people who are two ends of the spectrum. Wanting to micro-manage what the poll workers are doing and question everything that’s being done, and sometimes also pushing voters to behave a certain way. And also people who are trying to be overly helpful, offering to answer their questions. And voters should be talking– should, if they have a problem, talk to an election inspector, one of the poll workers. They will all have name tags and be readily identifiable.

Frederica Freyberg:
And some of the poll watchers took issue with some of these rules, is that right?

Kevin Kennedy:
That's right, they did. And in fact, we reviewed all those rules. And these were rules that we developed with organizations that did observing. It goes back to 2006. Many of them aren’t new, but I think the approach has become so much more polarized that there was an expectation that they could, as I said, get into voters and poll workers’ areas to micro-manage what they’re doing.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now, many times, you give us an estimate as to how many people might vote, or the percentage of people in Wisconsin voting. Have you worked any of that up?

Kevin Kennedy:
We have. We expect at least three million people to come to the polls. Well over 70% when it comes to turnout. As far as our voting-aged population goes. But very similar to what we saw in 2004 and 2008.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Well, Kevin Kennedy, thanks very much. Good luck with it all.

Kevin Kennedy:
Thank you.