World News – United States – Wisconsin sees few lines on election day, but high turnout

Voters in Wisconsin went to the polls on Tuesday to vote for the US presidency and a series of congressional and statewide racesGet statewide results for the election Find results | Visit the WPR Policy Section | Listen to the live broadcast

Maxx McGinnis listens to instructions on how to fill out his ballot Tuesday Nov 3, 2020, at St Charles Catholic Church in Hartland The issue of climate change motivated him to vote for the first time Angela Major / WPR

Voters in some Wisconsin neighborhoods had little to no wait on Tuesday Yet voter turnout was high statewide, thanks in large part to mail and early voting numbers

In the April election, some Wisconsin residents said they waited more than four hours to vote in the presidential primary Long queues and concerns about the coronavirus changed the way people voted in the general elections

As of Monday morning, around 19 million Wisconsinites have already returned their mail-in ballots, according to the state electoral commission, about twice as many as those returned in 2016 The large number of absent votes has delayed election results in parts of the state as Wisconsin law prohibits clerks from counting ballots before election day

As of 1:15 am Wednesday, the Associated Press reported nearly 29 million votes had been counted in the state election, nearly 3 million counted in 2016. absent were always counted

Milwaukee was a place with lagged results Four years ago, around 250,000 city residents voted in the presidential election More than two-thirds of that number has been cast by mail-in votes this year

By midnight Milwaukee County had all votes cast on Election Day City officials said more than 200,000 additional absent ballots may not be counted for 4 am

Compared to 2016, turnout increased this year in two of the three « WOW » counties – Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington – which form a Republican stronghold in the suburb of Milwaukee

As Milwaukee and Brown Counties’ results were slowed by the large number of mail-in votes, Dane County managed to complete its tally shortly after midnight The turnout increased significantly from 2016, when about 82% of residents turned out to vote.This year, that number was closer to 90, according to the county clerk

By 6 a.m. on polling day, more than 82% of registered voters in Madison had voted, said Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway Seventy-nine percent of the city’s registered voters voted in the 2016 presidential election

Randall Wildman voted for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at the Hawthorne branch of the Madison Public Library, where there was a line of about 10 people on Tuesday afternoon

« I think he’s sort of in the middle of the road, and I really like that, » Wildman said

In neighboring Rock County, nearly 89% of registered voters participated in the 2020 general election, a slight increase from four years ago, according to the county clerk

Around 10,000 more votes were cast in Outagamie County, which is part of the hotly contested Fox Valley region, compared to 2016 Almost 87% of registered voters took part in this year’s general election , siding largely with the Republicans, although the town of Appleton has swung in favor of Biden

In Douglas County, on the left, over 90% of registered voters voted, including John Cano in Superior

« Not only do I think voting is a good thing, but I think people my age, around their twenties, should vote, » Cano said

The turnout was not as high in other parts of the state Eau Claire County Clerk said about 70% of eligible voters participated in the general election in that country

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Wisconsin US Presidential Election 2020 Election Day