{"id":2358673,"date":"2024-10-23T23:50:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T03:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-day-of-absentee-voting-overwhelms-system-in-battleground-wisconsin\/"},"modified":"2024-10-23T23:57:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T03:57:39","slug":"first-day-of-absentee-voting-overwhelms-system-in-battleground-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-day-of-absentee-voting-overwhelms-system-in-battleground-wisconsin\/","title":{"rendered":"First Day of Absentee Voting Overwhelms System in Battleground Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffirst-day-of-absentee-voting-overwhelms-system-in-battleground-wisconsin%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2358673&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On\u2062 the first day \u200bof in-person absentee voting\u200b in Wisconsin, over 97,000\u2062 residents participated, causing long lines and delays at polling places due\u2063 to an overwhelmed computer system.\u2063 This \u2063figure shows\u2063 an increase from 79,774 on the opening day in 2020.\u200d The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported that as of Wednesday, 475,460 absentee ballots had been returned, including both mail and in-person votes. <\/p>\n<p>The surge in voting activity \u2063prompted \u200dRepublicans and Democrats to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rapid-reactions-hunters-not-done-yet-trump-pivots-to-early-voting-hollywood-goes-populist\/\" title=\"Quick Takes: Hunter&#039;s Persistence, Trump Shifts Focus to Early Voting, Hollywood Embraces Populism\">encourage early voting<\/a>, resulting in \u200dsignificant turnout despite\u200c technical \u2062issues with the WisVote system. Election officials worked \u2064to increase the system&#8217;s capacity in response to the\u2064 high volume \u200cof voters. <\/p>\n<p>With more\u2062 than 3.5 million registered\u200b voters in Wisconsin, many of whom can register on Election \u2063Day, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">election officials expect continued high\u2064 turnout<\/a> in \u2063the coming days. The\u200c political atmosphere is heightened as Wisconsin remains a\u2062 battleground\u2063 state in the presidential campaign.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> <script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>More than 97,000 people in Wisconsin cast absentee ballots in person on the first day they could, leading to long waits at some polling sites that were made worse by an overwhelmed computer system that clerks use to process ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans and Democrats have been pushing voters to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/donald-trump-cant-lose-incredible-early-voting-trend-continues-political-expert-mark-halperin-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cast ballots early<\/a>, leading to the surge and reports of people waiting in line for hours at clerks&rsquo; offices and other polling places around the state Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported Wednesday that 97,436 people voted in-person on Tuesday. That is up from 79,774 who cast ballots on opening day of in-person voting in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>As of Wednesday, 475,460 absentee ballots had been returned, including those sent by mail and cast in person.<\/p>\n<p>There are more than 3.5 million registered voters in Wisconsin, but voters can register and vote on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/afghan-man-charged-plotting-election-day-terror-attack-worked-cia-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Election Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>The larger-than-expected outpouring of voters Tuesday caused a slowdown of the WisVote system that some clerks use to print a label that is placed on the outside of an in-person absentee ballot, said the elections commission, which noted that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kansas-city-chiefs-defensive-lineman-has-seizure-goes-into-cardiac-arrest-during-meeting\/\" title=\"Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Lineman Suffers Seizure and Cardiac Arrest in Meeting\">staff worked quickly<\/a> to increase system capacity.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We went in, increased our server space and are planning to increase it a little more assuming that past is prologue and we will have other days that will exceed this one,&rdquo; said Ann Jacobs, the commission&rsquo;s Democratic chair.<\/p>\n<p>She put a positive spin on the delay, calling the large turnout that resulted in the problem &ldquo;terrific.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Lots of people came out,&rdquo; Jacobs said. &ldquo;The system slowed. It never went all the way down, but it did slow quite a bit. We&rsquo;re pretty confident it won&rsquo;t happen again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Scott McDonell, the Dane County clerk, said he wasn&rsquo;t surprised by the high level of first-day voters given that it has also happened in other states this year.<\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin is one of a small number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/john-fetterman-admits-trump-special-bond-key-swing-state-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">battleground states<\/a> where the race between Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bill-gates-secretly-tries-help-kamala-harris-win-unprecedented-move\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kamala Harris<\/a> and former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/tulsi-gabbard-stuns-trump-joins-gop-elite-trade-history-trades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> could go either way. That has resulted in massive spending by both sides in the state, encouragement to vote early, and numerous visits from the candidates and their surrogates.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These were all the voters who had their mind made up for some time,&rdquo; McDonell said. &ldquo;I think we saw across the state more Republicans voting early, which is a good thing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Voters in Wisconsin don&rsquo;t register by party, so it&rsquo;s impossible to know how many Republicans and Democrats have returned ballots so far.<\/p>\n<p>McDonell predicted that turnout will be high for a couple of days and then slow down. He recommended that voters wait a couple of days to vote in person.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\">  <\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> <label>* Name<\/label> <br \/> <input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> <\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> <label>* <\/label> <br \/> <input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> <\/div>\n<p> <label>* Message<\/label> <br \/> <textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea>  <\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\">  <\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\">  <\/div>\n<style> \t\t\t \t\t\t.insticator-unit.type-commenting{margin: 0 10px 25px 10px}@media screen and (max-width:1060px){#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{margin: 0 auto 25px auto !important;}}#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{height: 280px !important; width: 336px !important} \t\t<\/style>\n<div class=\"insticator-unit type-commenting\">\n<div class=\"insticator-ads\">   <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> <\/div>\n<div class=\"insticator-ads additional\">   <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 97,000 individuals in Wisconsin voted absentee in person on the first day, causing long lines at polling locations due to a strained computer system used by clerks for ballot processing. Both Republicans and Democrats have encouraged early voting, contributing to this increase and reports of hours-long waits at various sites across the state. The Wisconsin Elections Commission noted that 97,436 people voted in person on Tuesday, up from 79,774 on the first day of early voting in 2020. By Wednesday, a total of 475,460 absentee ballots had been returned\u2014both mailed and cast in person\u2014out of over 3.5 million registered voters in Wisconsin; voters can register and vote on Election Day as well.<\/p>\n<p>The unexpected surge led to delays with the WisVote system used by some clerks for printing labels for absentee ballots. The elections commission stated that staff quickly worked to enhance system capacity. Ann Jacobs, the commission&#8217;s Democratic chair, described the turnout as &#8220;terrific,&#8221; despite acknowledging some slowdown: &#8220;Lots of people came out&#8230; We\u2019re pretty confident it won\u2019t happen again.&#8221; Dane County clerk Scott McDonell noted he wasn&#8217;t surprised by the high turnout since similar trends were seen in other states this year.<\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin is a key battleground state where Vice President Kamala Harris faces former President Donald Trump; this has resulted in significant campaign spending and encouragement for early voting from both sides. McDonell observed more Republicans voting early but mentioned that it&#8217;s difficult to determine party affiliation among those who have returned ballots since voters don&#8217;t register by party. He anticipates high turnout will continue for a few days before tapering off and advised voters to consider waiting a couple of days before casting their votes in person<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2358674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/7509ac281a724bfbaf0ddd715253eab9-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[40373,37815,4124],"class_list":["post-2358673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-absentee-voting","tag-elections-2023","tag-wisconsin"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/7509ac281a724bfbaf0ddd715253eab9-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2358674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2358673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2358673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}