Absentee voting underway in Wisconsin’s August primary

Voting carrels set up at Madison's Hawthorne Library on Election Day 2022. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

In-person absentee voting started this week in Wisconsin as voters across the state started casting ballots in the August primary elections. 

The primary election takes place on Aug. 13, with in-person absentee locations opening on Monday. Each municipality in Wisconsin sets its own dates and hours for in-person early voting, but that option is available until Aug. 11 at the latest. For most voters, the deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is Aug. 9, however ballots must be returned by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. 

Absentee ballots can be returned to local municipal clerk’s offices, put into the mail or returned to absentee ballot drop boxes — which are legal again in the state after a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision earlier this summer. 

The deadline to register to vote at a municipal clerk’s office is Aug. 9, but Wisconsin allows people to register in-person on Election Day. To register to vote, a person needs a valid ID and proof of residence. 

On the ballot in August are partisan primaries for state and federal positions, including legislative and congressional races. Wisconsin has an open primary system, which means a voter does not need to be a registered member of a party to vote in its primary, however voters can only vote in one primary. For example, if someone in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District votes for Erik Hovde in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, they cannot also vote in the contested Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Local primaries are also on the ballot, with voters going to the polls to narrow down the field for positions across the state.

Additionally, two constitutional referenda are on the ballot, with voters deciding if a Republican-authored proposal to limit the governor’s ability to spend certain types of federal funding without legislative approval should be passed into law. 

For information on voting, your polling place, and what will appear on your ballot, check MyVote.wi.gov