MADISON, Wis. — In-person early voting begins Tuesday battlefield Wisconsinwith former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz hosting a rally in liberal Madison and Republicans hosting events to encourage casting a ballot Donald Trump before election day.
Trump has lost Wisconsin just below 21,000 votes in 2020, an election with unprecedented early and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris expect a razor-thin margin again in Wisconsin and both parties are urging voters to cast their ballots early.
Trump was very critical of postal voting in previous elections, falsely claiming fraud. But this election, he and his supporters are embracing all forms of voting, including by mail and early in person. Trump himself encouraged early voting earlier this month at a rally in Dodge County, Wisconsin.
Brian Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said Monday that the message from Trump and Republicans as voting began this year was “very clear.” Schimming has even plugged in the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, a method of returning ballots that Trump once opposed and which some Wisconsin Republicans still do.
“We have to use every conceivable way to get votes,” Schimming said during a press call. “If it’s the difference between getting a vote or not, I tell Republicans, ‘Put it in.’ the mailbox or put it in the mailbox.’”
Numerous Republican officeholders and candidates planned to cast their votes on Tuesday.
“You never know when a snowstorm will hit Wisconsin in November,” said U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents southeastern Wisconsin and will vote on Tuesday. “It’s a great opportunity, now that the weather is nice, to go to your local office and cast your vote and have that vote saved.”
Obama and Walz, the governor of neighboring Minnesota, planned an early voting meeting in the Democratic stronghold of Madison. Harris held a rally at the same location last month, drawing more than 14,000 people.
It’s one of them multiple stops the former president is doing everything he can to encourage early voting.
Harris has been spend a lot of time in the “ blue wall ” states Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the final weeks of the campaign, including stops in both Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance was in the conservative suburbs of Milwaukee on Sunday.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin also hosted a variety of events across Wisconsin to encourage early voting, as did liberal advocacy groups, including Souls to the Polls, a Milwaukee-based organization targeting black voters. That’s one key demographic for Democrats in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and the source of the highest number of Democratic votes.
Wisconsin’s early voting period, which begins Tuesday, runs through Sunday, November 3. However, early voting locations and times vary from state to state. Voters do not have to give a reason for their absence. Ballots were mailed out in late September, but starting Tuesday, voters can request one at designated polling locations and cast their ballots in person.
As of Friday, more than 305,000 absentee ballots had been returned in Wisconsin. Voters can continue to return them by mail, in person or at absentee ballot boxes in communities where they are available. All absentee ballots must be received before the polls close at 8:00 PM on Election Day.
