There is still time to apply for an absentee ballot in Wisconsin. You must complete the proper form and mail it to or turn it into your municipal clerk's office. The application must be received by 5:00 this Thursday, the Thursday before the election in order for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you.
Here are instructions on how to apply for an absentee ballot in Wisconsin.
During May, I blogged about the trend of voting via the Post Office. As one election official put it, “There is no line at your mailbox.” Just how popular is the absentee ballot? The Associated Press reports that nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote before Election Day, November 4, 2008.
The numbers show an increasing percentage of voters want to take advantage of the absentee ballot because they are travelling, they are elderly and have difficulty getting to the polls, the convenience of considering their choices in the comfortable confines of their home, or simply because they can. Twenty-eight states, including Wisconsin, allow anyone to vote absentee, no questions asked.
During 2000, 16 percent of voters in the United States cast their ballots early. The number increased to 22 percent in 2004.
Statewide in Wisconsin, according to the Government Accountability Board’s Kyle Richmond who was quoted by the Associated Press, about 365,000 people used absentee ballots or cast early votes at clerk’s offices in 2004, about 12 percent of the voting age population in the state. The number is expected to grow this year to 15 percent.
At least 40% of California’s registered voters already have decided they want to vote by mail. The LA Times reports that according to the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, a majority of voters prefer their mailbox over the ballot box in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. Oregon did away entirely with polling places during 2000. Washington state is getting close to 100% vote-by-mail.
Here is an Associated Press story on the popularity of Post Office voting.
