WAUKESHA — The line at Waukesha city hall stretched out the door as voters gathered to cast their ballots Thursday morning, continuing a trend of record early voting turnout seen at polling places across the state.
Polling places opened to early and absentee voters and officials say the rush to vote has pushed the limits of voting systems. Waukesha City Clerk Linda Gourdoux said what they are seeing is unexpected. “Usually in the past — with my experience anyway — with elections, there has been more of an ebb and flow,” Gourdoux said, “where it’s busy right away in the morning, busy at lunch and busy toward the evening. This has just been busy all day.”
Gourdoux says they expected a need for 41,000 absentee ballots in Waukesha, and more than 10,000 absentee ballots have already been cast three days in. She said like many other polling places, high turnout has taxed their WisVote connection to the state, but adds they have been able to work through those slow downs. “We’re motoring along,” she added, “It’s nice to see all the people in line and, for the most part, everybody’s being very gracious.”
High turnout and long lines haven’t been exclusive to the state’s large metropolitan areas. The Village of Slinger has more than 6,000 residents, and officials say the village hall has been packed with voters.
Village of Slinger Clerk Tammy Tennies says hundreds of people have lined up every day, and that turnout is exceptionally high, even for presidential elections. Tennies says, “We’re doing a count right now, we have 1,186 absentees that have been returned –out of like 1,300 — and I don’t see that slowing down.”
Tennies says high turnout is likely due to the high anxiety and urgency around this year’s presidential race. She adds officials in Washington County say they could reasonably expect 100% turnout for this election.