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Recall in-person absentee voting begins Monday, May 21st

Published  May 21, 2012 6:39am CDT
Election
FOX 6 Now Milwaukee

MADISON -- Absentee voting for the June 5th recall election begins Monday, May 21st.

CLICK HERE for more information on voting absentee for City of Milwaukee residents.

CLICK HERE for more information on absentee voting via the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's website. Here, you can also download an absentee ballot.

A new law may dictate how students vote in Wisconsin's historic recall election on June 5th. As a result, both parties are pushing absentee voting.

Part of the "Voter ID Law" is still in place, and some say it could affect the outcome of the recall race. The law requires people to live in their voting residence for 28 days prior to the election. Students going home for the summer won't meet that requirement.

The head of Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board says they still have an option. "People who were finishing up their residency in Madison can continue to use that address for voting because they will not have been able to live somewhere else for 28 days before the June 5th election," Kennedy said.

That's a message Milwaukee Mayor and Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett is sending at universities across Wisconsin. "If you voted May 8th, in the dormitories, you are going to have to get an absentee ballot to vote from the same location, even though you won't be in the dorms.  If you return to your parents' home for example, you will not have been there for 28 days.  That's part of what they're trying to do, make it harder for young people who are in college to vote," Barrett said.

In the wider battle for votes, both Democrats and Republicans say they're aggressively promoting absentee balloting for college students. "We've got a significant involvement with college students all across the state. I did that in 2010 and I'm doing it now. As I've said to many students, the thing they should look at is what the future's going to look like," Gov. Scott Walker said.

After their final exams are completed, college students will face one more big test - how many will vote absentee? The answer will come June 5th.

Voters can vote absentee in-person as soon as Monday, May 21st. Ballots have to be postmarked by Election Day and received by the Friday after the election.