WEST BEND, WI— On election day in Washington county, 95% of the county’s able voters went to the polls to cast their ballots.
County executive Josh Schoemann says the voter turnout has been a steady increase over the years.
“In the last four years, 2020 in particular, we’ve seen almost a 95% turnout,” said Schoemann. “So to get that last 5%, you just think, ‘how are you going to do that?’ This year, one more percent of voters showed up to the polls.”
Schoemann tells Political Power Hour that while this year’s election brought a great turnout on Election Day, it was still frustrating to see the rest of the state wait on major metropolitan communities to finish counting their absentee votes up until 5a.m. on Wednesday morning.
“I know and understand the theory about increased efficiency by centralizing location,” said Schoemann. “But the practicality of it is that it’s not making it more efficient. In the end, Germantown didn’t end until 2 in the morning, West Bend didn’t end until 5 in the morning, and the city of Milwaukee didn’t finish until 4 in the morning.”
Shoemann says that more needs to be done in Madison to change the rules regarding absentee vote counting, because waiting into the early hours of the Wednesday after Election Day are doing no one any service.
“I think one of the easier changes that can be made, is to allow for the counting of absentee ballots on the Monday before Election Day,” said Shoemann. “All I’m saying is that the process at Central Count is not as efficient as it should be.”
In previous legislative sessions, the state tried to update rules on absentee ballot counting, but it was ultimately stopped in the state senate.
