please I dont want this to get political just venting

[bcla]

Wisconsin voter here. DD and I voted early a week or two ago. No wait at our city hall.

Today they had 3 options in our city for in person voting. 1. Drop off your previously requested absentee ballot if you hadn't mailed it yet. ..no waiting that I am aware of. 2. Curbside voting where poll worker met you at your car and I guess witnessed your vote.....longest wait times, 40 min at one point. 3. Vote in person inside none to minimal waits the times we looked. They had online updates as to wait times. DH went after work and after waiting in curbside line decided to get out of line and go inside. No waits only one other person inside voting, so in and out.

We used to have 4 polling places, increased to 8 last election, but condensed to 1 polling place for entire city due to lack of workers this time.

It might be tolerable depending on the location. I've seen what they had in Milwaukee and Green Bay and it was pretty bad. I heard it's a combination of poll workers deciding it's not worth it to come in, and most polling locations withdrawing because they feel they're not suitable given space/layout considerations.

 

[mom-2greatkids]

We live in Green Bay. DH and I received our ballots about a week ago. DS thankfully received his today. DD never received hers. She waited outside in the drizzle for 2.5 hours to vote. There were all of 2 polling stations in Green Bay.

Only one person in my sister's household received their ballot (got it today). They voted "by committee" because none of them were willing to expose themselves at the polls.

 

[Kestryl]

Many, many people vote by mail every year, including military personnel and, ahem, people holding elected positions.

I love voting by mail. It allows me to sit down and read up on every election on the ballot without pressure if I missed something.

 

[Searc]

The last voter voted at 12:30am. No one was allowed to get in line past 8pm.

 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

An awful situation for sure! But I was wondering if there were more to this. It is actually a very sticky thing with some problems. That is what the Court Ruling was about. Everybody on every side should have handled this so much better!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-misunderstood-ruling-wisconsin-210540098.html

 

[Lumpy1106]

Many, many people vote by mail every year, including military personnel and, ahem, people holding elected positions.

I love voting by mail. It allows me to sit down and read up on every election on the ballot without pressure if I missed something.

^ This A LOT!

I've been a registered "absentee" voter forever. I wish everyone would do it. It seems like especially ballot propositions go the wrong way because low information voters make their decisions on what ad they saw last or what the ballot summary says. You can't get more biased than these two things. It's not a test - if you want to study up on the measure before and while you are casting your ballot you should be encouraged to do so. Voting from home at your leisure doesn't guarantee anyone will put more thought into it, but it sure is a lot more likely.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They might certify winners before all ballots are counted, but every elections office makes a huge effort to count all ballots even when there's not likely to be any change in outcome. And we have races that go across county lines, so it gets kind of weird when one county is done well before the other.

I haven't said anything to the contrary of what you're saying so yes I do agree with you. I'm just telling you how it often ends up in my area.

It's possible advanced voting (especially in-person) is in part why sometimes one county is "done" before the other.

 

[mnrose]

Wisconsin voter here. DD and I voted early a week or two ago. No wait at our city hall.

Today they had 3 options in our city for in person voting. 1. Drop off your previously requested absentee ballot if you hadn't mailed it yet. ..no waiting that I am aware of. 2. Curbside voting where poll worker met you at your car and I guess witnessed your vote.....longest wait times, 40 min at one point. 3. Vote in person inside none to minimal waits the times we looked. They had online updates as to wait times. DH went after work and after waiting in curbside line decided to get out of line and go inside. No waits only one other person inside voting, so in and out.

We used to have 4 polling places, increased to 8 last election, but condensed to 1 polling place for entire city due to lack of workers this time.

No drive thru option in Milwaukee. No option other than to stand in line at one of 3 polling places (unless you requested an absentee ballot which ACTUALLY arrived...as others have noted, many did not). 3 polling places for 1/2 a million voters. How do we spell voter repression? Let's see: MILWAUKEE. And, if you think that is just a "coincidence" that it happened in a left leaning strong hold, I've got a bridge for sale. Cheap. We've become a banana republic. Democracy is dead.

 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Should we be upset with the Milwaukee people in charge? That seems to be so wrong! Everybody involved here totally did this all wrong.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

^ This A LOT!

I've been a registered "absentee" voter forever. I wish everyone would do it. It seems like especially ballot propositions go the wrong way because low information voters make their decisions on what ad they saw last or what the ballot summary says. You can't get more biased than these two things. It's not a test - if you want to study up on the measure before and while you are casting your ballot you should be encouraged to do so. Voting from home at your leisure doesn't guarantee anyone will put more thought into it, but it sure is a lot more likely.

Wrong way? Or right way? Only one's opinion influences that aspect. If a voter is only using heavily targeted, god-awful attack ads as their means for information being in person or having it in the mail won't be likely to lead to a change in opinion.

For my area on some harder to understand ballot measures if voting in-person they've given pamplets or had signs to help explain a bit more in detail. We had a hunting measure I think it was last year or two years ago that having that additional explanation was a bit more helpful. FWIW there were no ads on the television for that measure. I use ballotpedia before going to the polls personally speaking. But as I have mentioned in my area you can request a mail-in advanced voting and absentee voting as well subject to specific cut off dates both for requesting and receiving of the completed ballot. Choice is always a good thing. So to me I don't want everyone to only have 1 choice

 

[JimMIA]

3 polling places for 1/2 a million voters.

That's just plain crazy.

How do we spell voter repression? Let's see: MILWAUKEE. And, if you think that is just a "coincidence" that it happened in a left leaning strong hold, I've got a bridge for sale. Cheap.

The question I have is this -- WHO decided to only have 3 voting sites?

I don't know the answer because I don't live there and am not familiar with your election structure.

In Florida, our elections are managed by each county's Supervisor of Elections (an elected position). Those positions are theoretically non-partisan, but in a heavily-Democratic county like Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach, the supervisors will naturally be Democrats. In heavily-Republican counties, the supervisor will naturally be a Republican.

But regardless of party affiliation, in Florida we have one local person in charge -- and responsible to the public for their performance (either good or bad).

YMMV in WI, but if your situation is similar you don't have far to look to find the culprit.

 

[b2k1121]

That's just plain crazy. The question I have is this -- WHO decided to only have 3 voting sites?

I don't know the answer because I don't live there and am not familiar with your election structure.

In Florida, our elections are managed by each county's Supervisor of Elections (an elected position). Those positions are theoretically non-partisan, but in a heavily-Democratic county like Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach, the supervisors will naturally be Democrats. In heavily-Republican counties, the supervisor will naturally be a Republican.

But regardless of party affiliation, in Florida we have one local person in charge -- and responsible to the public for their performance (either good or bad).

YMMV in WI, but if your situation is similar you don't have far to look to find the culprit.

Who the person was that decided on only having 3 sites doesn’t really matter, once it’s determined that most polling sites need to be closed down due to lack of poll workers that should be enough to postpone the election.

 

[Searc]

No drive thru option in Milwaukee. No option other than to stand in line at one of 3 polling places (unless you requested an absentee ballot which ACTUALLY arrived...as others have noted, many did not). 3 polling places for 1/2 a million voters. How do we spell voter repression? Let's see: MILWAUKEE. And, if you think that is just a "coincidence" that it happened in a left leaning strong hold, I've got a bridge for sale. Cheap. We've become a banana republic. Democracy is dead.

A quick correction ~ MKE had 5 polling places. Still a shameful number, but better than 3.

 

[Starwarsfan2]

Without voter ID laws, this can, and I am sure does happen.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/eric-holder-votes.php

 

[Lumpy1106]

Wrong way? Or right way? Only one's opinion influences that aspect. If a voter is only using heavily targeted, god-awful attack ads as their means for information being in person or having it in the mail won't be likely to lead to a change in opinion.

For my area on some harder to understand ballot measures if voting in-person they've given pamplets or had signs to help explain a bit more in detail. We had a hunting measure I think it was last year or two years ago that having that additional explanation was a bit more helpful. FWIW there were no ads on the television for that measure. I use ballotpedia before going to the polls personally speaking. But as I have mentioned in my area you can request a mail-in advanced voting and absentee voting as well subject to specific cut off dates both for requesting and receiving of the completed ballot. Choice is always a good thing. So to me I don't want everyone to only have 1 choice

My point is, if someone is voting, the possibility that they put some thought into it and have resources available to research and make an informed decision is a lot higher if they are at home. Honestly, if someone is just learning about a ballot proposition while they are standing in line to vote, do you really want them voting? I'll pass, and I don't care how they end up voting.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

Should we be upset with the Milwaukee people in charge? That seems to be so wrong! Everybody involved here totally did this all wrong.

The city has no say in how many polling machines/supplies they have. I've been saying this for years having lived in both large cities and small towns. There is always an abundance of machines in small towns and the most I ever had to wait in line was five minutes. In cities, they are never given enough by the state board of elections and the wait can be up to three hours.

I will be upset with the slimy party that controls the legislature that insisted this go on without any regard for the citizens of larger cities. Cities are being hit first by the virus so there were already people in quarantine after having either contracted or been exposed to the disease. Rural WI legislators just took advantage of that.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

A quick correction ~ MKE had 5 polling places. Still a shameful number, but better than 3.

There's usually over 100 from what I've read. I work in a smaller city that has at least 45 stations.

 

[Searc]

There's usually over 100 from what I've read. I work in a smaller city that has at least 45 stations.

Yes, there are normally around 180. Yesterday, there were 5.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

Without voter ID laws, this can, and I am sure does happen.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/eric-holder-votes.php

I wouldn't trust anything from either that "project" or that blog.

 

[pryncess527]

^ This A LOT!

I've been a registered "absentee" voter forever. I wish everyone would do it.

i wish every state would permit it. Absentee ballots can be hard to qualify for in many states.