Wisconsin Early Voting Statistics in 2018 Governor’s Race

Wisconsin early voting statistics show that, as of October 10, 2018, 50,900 Wisconsinites had cast early votes in the November 6, 2018 election, and 121,910 absentee ballots were sent out, according to the Wisconsin Election Commission. That means 42 percent of ballots sent were returned so far.

As a point of comparison, as of October 23, 2014, the last governor’s race, the Commission reported: “As of midday Thursday, a total of 109,275 absentee ballots have been submitted by voters, according to clerks who track them in SVRS. Of those, 59,015 were completed in-person in a clerk’s office.” The Commission does not have 2014 data as of October 10 for a better comparison.

As of October 12, 2016, absentee statistics for the presidential election in Wisconsin showed absentee/early voting was about double what it is now for the midterms (turnout is always expected to be higher in presidential election years.) The stats through October 12, 2016 showed that 172,760 ballots were sent and 103,907 cast, as of that date, Commission data shows. That means about 60% of the ballots mailed out were returned by that date.

Twitter/Vukmir and Baldwin pagesLeah Vukmir and Tammy Baldwin.

In Wisconsin, voters will be able to choose whether to re-elect Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican. His opponent, Tony Evers, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, has been ahead in most recent polls, although Walker was ahead by 1 percent in one of those. There are also Senate, Congressional, and an Attorney General’s race on the ballot. You can see a state-by-state round up of early voting statistics here.

According to the October 10, 2018 report generated by the Wisconsin Election Commission: “Absentee voting reports are generated from the WisVote system, and are based on data entered by Wisconsin’s municipal clerks. The numbers include absentee ballots cast in-person in the clerk’s office (early voting).” Wisconsin law requires photo ID to vote. People who vote absentee are not allowed to change their votes.

The site adds, “Wisconsin does not register voters by political party, and the Elections Commission has no information about the party affiliation or preference of voters who have requested or cast absentee ballots.”

The page breaks down absentee ballots by county into tallies of both sent and returned. You can see early voting/absentee voting deadlines here.

Early voting has grown dramatically in Wisconsin. According to a spreadsheet provided by the Election Commission, in 1988 only 3.03% per votes were absentee. The number first started to climb in 2008, when it reached 21.60%. In 2014, 15.44% of votes were cast early in Wisconsin (the last time Gov. Scott Walker was on the ballot.)

That number exploded in the 2016 presidential election to 27.27%. Presidential election turnout is obviously much higher overall.

For example, 3,004,051 people voted in the 2016 presidential election in Wisconsin. In 2014, the last governor’s race, 2,422,040 people voted. However, more people voted in 2012: 3,080,628.

Here is the county-by-county Wisconsin early voting listing, as of October 10. The first number for each county is the number sent. The second number is the number received.

ADAMS COUNTY

209

99

ASHLAND COUNTY

232

107

BARRON COUNTY

591

235

BAYFIELD COUNTY

324

165

BROWN COUNTY

6445

2803

BUFFALO COUNTY

119

44

BURNETT COUNTY

251

94

CALUMET COUNTY

877

349

CHIPPEWA COUNTY

1140

490

CLARK COUNTY

219

86

COLUMBIA COUNTY

1054

512

CRAWFORD COUNTY

155

67

DANE COUNTY

13696

4642

DODGE COUNTY

1269

568

DOOR COUNTY

732

299

DOUGLAS COUNTY

1148

606

DUNN COUNTY

612

299

EAU CLAIRE COUNTY

1856

598

FLORENCE COUNTY

70

37

FOND DU LAC COUNTY

2102

991

FOREST COUNTY

210

105

GRANT COUNTY

525

188

GREEN COUNTY

480

153

GREEN LAKE COUNTY

263

112

IOWA COUNTY

400

159

IRON COUNTY

192

107

JACKSON COUNTY

130

34

JEFFERSON COUNTY

1134

474

JUNEAU COUNTY

285

66

KENOSHA COUNTY

4652

2297

KEWAUNEE COUNTY

390

190

LA CROSSE COUNTY

2055

663

LAFAYETTE COUNTY

179

59

LANGLADE COUNTY

311

112

LINCOLN COUNTY

478

186

MANITOWOC COUNTY

1705

838

MARATHON COUNTY

3102

1559

MARINETTE COUNTY

709

337

MARQUETTE COUNTY

198

80

MENOMINEE COUNTY

37

30

MILWAUKEE COUNTY

21191

10045

MONROE COUNTY

476

179

OCONTO COUNTY

555

251

ONEIDA COUNTY

1160

512

OUTAGAMIE COUNTY

3446

1354

OZAUKEE COUNTY

2759

1220

PEPIN COUNTY

53

16

PIERCE COUNTY

580

156

POLK COUNTY

521

227

PORTAGE COUNTY

1534

840

PRICE COUNTY

192

85

RACINE COUNTY

4343

1343

RICHLAND COUNTY

71

21

ROCK COUNTY

2588

957

RUSK COUNTY

142

56

ST. CROIX COUNTY

1549

587

SAUK COUNTY

1257

387

SAWYER COUNTY

458

239

SHAWANO COUNTY

496

209

SHEBOYGAN COUNTY

2856

1487

TAYLOR COUNTY

207

85

TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

101

22

VERNON COUNTY

332

79

VILAS COUNTY

819

458

WALWORTH COUNTY

2397

706

WASHBURN COUNTY

319

149

WASHINGTON COUNTY

2979

1213

WAUKESHA COUNTY

11565

4545

WAUPACA COUNTY

801

314

WAUSHARA COUNTY

371

146

WINNEBAGO COUNTY

3685

1451

WOOD COUNTY

1571

721

Total

121910

50900