Here & Now

Noon Wednesday with guest Erin Grunze

Marisa Wojcik:
Welcome to Noon Wednesday. I’m Marisa Wojcik, a multimedia journalist with Here & Now on Wisconsin Public Television. We have an election right around the corner. On November 6th, Wisconsin voters will take to the polls, but first, you have to be registered, and so, Erin Grunze from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is here. She’s the executive director, and she’s going to walk us through a little bit of the process that you need in order to be preregistered, or registered day-of, so to start, what is the deadline to preregister?

Erin Grunze:
Okay, so, to preregister, you’ll want to have all of your paperwork in or do so online by October 17th, and after that, the online system won’t allow you to register. The clerks will need to have received paperwork by that time to have all the registrations done, and that gives them time, then, to create their poll books.

Marisa Wojcik:
And when you say paperwork, that means if you’re submitting your materials by mail, but if you are doing the process online, it’s a lot more efficient, is that right?

Erin Grunze:
Yeah, the online system allows you, if you have a DMV product, so a state ID card or a driver’s license, to bypass the proof of residence, because it’s linking to the DMV to prove your residence, and so then you can just enter your information, double checks with the DMV, and you click to submit your request for registration, and then you get the confirmation that your application is received and you’re all set for election day.

Marisa Wojcik:
So, if you know that you’re not in the DMV system, then you can anticipate, okay, I will have a few extra steps to have proof of residence, is that right?

Erin Grunze:
That’s right, so when you’re registering, you need to provide that you’ve lived in Madison for at least 10 days, and when you fill out the paper.

Marisa Wojcik:
Or in Wisconsin, or at your residence.

Erin Grunze:
I’m sorry, at your residence, yeah, in Wisconsin. Thank you, and so when you’re filling out the paperwork, you’ll want to complete the paper form. You can also begin the form online and print that out, so that’s another advantage of the online system, is that you can begin filling out the form online, and then print it and send in your proof of residence with that. Now, your proof of residence can be documents that establish your residency, so official documents like a bank statement, a rental lease, utility bills are common ones that are used, and your clerk or My Vote will have an additional list of types of proof of residence that’s accepted.

Marisa Wojcik:
So, if you don’t make that October 17th deadline to preregister, Wisconsin is a state that allows you to register day-of, which is a little bit unique, but also is a bonus of Wisconsin elections, and you will need that documentation with you if you are trying to register day-of. You will need your proof of residence documents, is that right?

Erin Grunze:
That’s right, yeah. Yeah, we have a wonderful part of our election system in Wisconsin is that we do have Election Day registration, so you can go to the polls, bring your proof of residence, which can actually also exist on your mobile unit, so if you have a tablet or a phone and you have your bank statement, say, on your phone, you can show the poll workers your proof of residence on your phone, on your device.

Marisa Wojcik:
On your device.

Erin Grunze:
As proof of residence, so electronic documents are accepted. So then, yeah, you can register day-of. Once you’re registered, then you’ll get into the next line to receive your ballot.

Marisa Wojcik:
And so, I tried to register to vote a couple years back. I was living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and I tried to bring in a bank statement, or a credit card statement, and it didn’t work, but that’s changed now, right?

Erin Grunze:
Yeah, just recently. Last week, in the Wisconsin Elections Commission meeting, the commissioners voted to begin accepting credit card statements as a proof of residence, so that is effective now, so those documents will be now included in the list of acceptable documents for proof of residence.

Marisa Wojcik:
And if my current address is on my state ID, that is my proof of residence, as long as that is my accurate, current address.

Erin Grunze:
That’s right, so again, when you’re registering, you’re establishing where you live, and so, yeah, if you’re going to use your driver’s license or your state ID card, it will need your current address for registration, so that’s right. And I would like to add, too, ’cause some people are often confused by the fact that maybe I lived on the third floor of my building and I voted in spring, but since then, now I’ve moved to the first floor. You’ll need to re-register. You’re in the same building, but because you’ve moved apartments and you’ll have a different apartment number, you’ll need to re-register.

Marisa Wojcik:
Or same if you’re in the same ward. You still…

Erin Grunze:
Yeah, yeah. So any change like that, you’ll need to make, and that’s another way that My Vote is really nice, because you can make that change of address right online.

Marisa Wojcik:
Speaking of IDs, you do need to bring a valid photo ID when you actually show up to the polls. Can you tell us a little bit about that? You said you’ve been doing some work to make sure that, there are some people that that’s a barrier for them for voting. How does that work?

Erin Grunze:
Yeah, so Wisconsin is a photo ID state, so you’ll need to bring a photo ID, and we don’t have anything that’s designated a voter ID. Rather, there’s a list of about seven or eight different acceptable photo IDs, and many people are likely to have them, the state ID card, driver’s license, but it has to be in-state, so if you live in Minnesota as a student, you come to Wisconsin, to vote in Wisconsin, you’ll either need the Wisconsin driver’s license or a student ID. That also has an additional provision, that you’ll need to provide proof of enrollment when you use a student ID. And then, other ones on there would be like a veteran’s ID card or a passport are also acceptable IDs. Again, My Vote will have those listed, the type of IDs that you can bring, so when you’re using your photo ID, what you’re doing is you’re establishing your person, so at registration, you’re establishing where you live. The photo ID is establishing who you are, and so your name needs to be on that photo ID, and only that designated list of photo IDs is valid, so a work ID will not work.

Marisa Wojcik:
So, in the work that your organization has been doing leading up to the election, what kind of interest have you found from people? It’s a midterm election. Usually there’s a lower turnout than a presidential election. Is that holding true for this election?

Erin Grunze:
Yeah, I think we’ve noticed, and this is a trend nationwide, and I think the same can be said state-wide, that there is an uptick in interest in the midterm election. We will be electing our highest office, which is a governor, and many of the state positions in Wisconsin, and we also have a U.S. Senate race that is contentious, and then, the State Assembly and State Senate races are also happening, so there’s a lot going on, and we’ve noticed many more people interested in what’s happening and how they can participate in midterm elections. And so, it’s really great, and one example is, last week, we had National Voter Registration Day. Last year, or excuse me, in 2016, for the presidential year, they had about 600,000 registrations across the country. This year, in the midterm, we’ve had 800,000 registrations nationwide. We had 40 events that the league put on during that day, and we like to say that’s only one of many days that we hold registration events. That’s a big part of league work, and that, I think, just speaks to the volumes of more people being interested in getting registered and understanding, even in advance of Election Day, how they can go out and vote.

Marisa Wojcik:
You mentioned sometimes people reject themselves from voting. What did you mean by that?

Erin Grunze:
Yeah, so I think sometimes people think I might not have the right ID, or I’m not sure I have the proper proof of residence. I don’t think I’ll go vote this time. We also understand, we’ve had people talk with us, saying so my driver’s license doesn’t have my current address. I’m registered, but I don’t know if I can go to the polls and show my ID for photo ID. This would be an instance where your address doesn’t need to match your current place of residence. When you go to the polls to show your photo ID, again, you’re establishing who you are, but we’ve had people tell us, and well-informed people in the community, say I didn’t vote because I didn’t think I could, and so, to them, we try to get the messaging out in front. It’s better to go. One of the advantages of early voting right now is that people can go and vote, and if there are problems, they’ll find that out in advance, and there’s still time building up to Election Day, where sometimes those problems can be solved before Election Day, and then they can still cast their ballot. So, I would say, if you have those questions, contact your clerk, contact the league. We’ll help you get them answered. Sometimes, it’s a simple solution, and we just encourage people to go and vote, and don’t disclude yourself from the process.

Marisa Wojcik:
Well, Erin, thanks so much for kind of walking us through some of these steps.

Erin Grunze:
Sure.

Marisa Wojcik:
And there’s plenty of resources out there if you do have additional questions. If you go to MyVote.wi.gov, you can register to vote up until October 17th. Otherwise, you need to register day of the election, but you can also see if you’re already registered correctly for your current address, and you can see what will be exactly on your ballot for where you live. For more about the candidates, Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio have put together a great resource guide for everything that you need to know about the candidates at WisconsinVote.org, and in general, if you want to hear more from Here & Now coverage and Wisconsin Public Television, visit WPT.org. That’s a lot of websites, but we will include links in addition to this webcast, and thank you, again, so much, for joining us on Noon Wednesday.