Wisconsin elections: How ballots are counted, processed
MILWAUKEE - Millions of Wisconsinites are expected to vote in the Nov. 5 election – but what happens to your ballot after cast it, and how do you get it in the first place? It's a process that takes months to prepare for but typically unfolds over a matter of hours or days.
Here is what the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) says about how ballots are processed.
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Election preparation
Planning for the 2016 general election began the day after the 2020 election. The WEC shares the responsibility of training local election officials and supporting the administration of elections. Those officials register voters, issue absentee ballots, recruit and train poll workers, and plan for safe voting.
Each election is conducted at the local level in 72 counties and 1,851 municipalities. In November, there will be nearly 2,500 polling places that require more than 30,000 total poll workers.
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Poll workers include chief inspectors, elections inspectors, greeters, tabulators and high school poll workers. Requirements for those rolls can be found on the WEC website.
Election observers also play a role in the process. Anyone other than a candidate who is up for election can observe the conduct of the election or an election administration event. They may be present at a number of steps in the process, including during in-person absentee voting, at an Election Day polling location or at a central counting location.
On Election Day
All Wisconsin ballots, including absentee and early in-person, are counted on election day. No identifying information is on the ballots, which once marked go into a ballot tabulator that tallies election results.
Election officials track who voted on Election Day through poll books, which are lists of all registered voters at a specific polling location. Voters sign the poll book before they are issued a ballot.
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Voters may also register at their polling place on Election Day, where poll workers then verify a person's name and address and check a photo ID before registering the voter and issuing a ballot.
When it comes to absentee ballots, inspectors first verify the absentee ballot envelope meets all requirements – such as the voter's signature and a witness signature. If those requirements are met, inspectors then open the envelope and place it in the tabulator. The voters are marked in the poll book via their voter number when the votes are counted. The entire process is open to public observers.
After the election
Local election officials review the poll book that voters signed on Election Day and manually update the voter registration with who voted, which the Wisconsin Elections Commission said can take time.
Once a vote is recorded in the voter registration system, voters can verify their ballot through the "My Voting Activity" section of the MyVote Wisconsin website.
State laws grants clerks are allowed up to 45 days after a general election to record that information.
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Municipal election officials maintain local election results. Voters can check with the appropriate county or municipal clerk to find results for local offices. There is no statewide system in Wisconsin for reporting unofficial results on election night, and there is no central official website or feed that reports those results. Rather, counties post the unofficial numbers.
MyVote Wisconsin also makes it convenient for voters to track their ballot. You can see if a ballot request has been received or processed, find out whether your ballot has been sent, and find out whether there was a problem with a ballot.
In close races, a candidate, typically the one who lost, can have all the ballots counted again to assure all legal votes were counted properly, any illegal votes were not tallied, and proper election procedures were followed. There is no automatic recount for any Wisconsin race.
Key deadlines:
- Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.: Deadline for all absentee ballots to be delivered to a polling place or central count location. Municipal clerks have two hours after votes are tabulated to report them to the county clerk, and county clerks have two hours after that to post results online.
- Nov. 11 at 9 a.m.: Deadline for the Municipal Board of Canvassers to convene
- Nov. 12 at 9 a.m.: Deadline for the County Board of Canvassers to convene
- Nov. 19: Last day for county clerks to deliver results for state and federal offices to the Wisconsin Elections Commission
- Dec. 1: Last day for the Wisconsin Elections Commission chair to certify the general election results
What is the Wisconsin Elections Commission?
The Wisconsin Legislature established the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2016 to carry out a wide range of functions related to the administration of statewide elections, which local clerks conduct.
Six commissioners govern the bipartisan body – three who represent the Democratic Party and three who represent the Republican Party. Two members of each party are selected by their respective legislative leadership, while one member of each party must be a former clerk appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Wisconsin Senate.
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Commissioners serve part-time in staggered, five-year terms. Each term, the offices of WEC chair and vice-chair switch between Democratic and Republican-appointed members. The commission's secretary is the clerk-appointee of the opposite part.
Commissioners themselves elect officers every two years. The administrator, required by law to be nonpartisan, is selected by the commissioners and confirmed the Wisconsin Senate. The administrator is the agency's chief executive.