Wisconsin Election Agency Confirms System ‘Outages’ on First Day of Early Voting

‘Your votes will be counted. This is just a matter of a slow down,’ the top election official in the state said.

Voters wait in line to cast their votes at an early-voting polling location at the Madison Public Library–Central in Madison, Wis., on Oct. 22, 2024. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

High turnout on Wisconsin’s first day of in-person absentee voting caused the battleground state’s election system to experience system problems and lags, officials said on Oct. 22.

People who spoke with local media outlets in Milwaukee on camera said they were waiting for several hours to vote on Oct. 22. Meanwhile, the city of Glendale, Wisconsin, wrote on social media that high voter turnout caused “severe delays” and “periodic outages.”

Hours later, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) revealed that the turnout caused “system lags” in the state’s WisVote program but said that the issue was resolved. Some election clerks also “experienced a period of slowness” that was also resolved, it said.

Clerks across the state can use the WisVote system to “print a label that can be placed on the outside of in-person absentee certificate envelopes,” the WEC said, adding that the same information can be placed on the outside of the ballot’s envelope “manually with a pen.”

“Today’s system lag was purely related to demands on the WisVote system due to high turnout,” the state election agency reiterated. “This should not prevent any voter’s ability to vote in-person absentee today.”

Its staff also worked to increase the WisVote system capacity to ensure that election clerks can keep pace with in-person absentee voting.

In an exclusive interview with WISN-TV, WEC Chairwoman Ann Jacobs, a Democrat, said that voter turnout has been “through the roof” and “more than ... anticipated” before Election Day on Nov. 5.

“The problem is fixed. We are monitoring it closely, and I don’t want anyone to worry. Your votes will be counted. This is just a matter of a slowdown. It did not come to a stop,” Jacobs said.

Early voting in Wisconsin started on Oct. 22 and will continue through Nov. 3. In the state, voters don’t need to provide a reason for voting absentee.

Ballots started being sent by mail in late September, but beginning on Oct. 22, voters could request them at designated voting locations and cast their ballots in person.

Wisconsin is expected to be a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential race. In both the 2016 and 2020 elections, the winner of the state was determined by a slim margin.

Former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz urged supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris to vote early during a campaign event in Madison earlier this week.

“Even one or two extra votes per precinct will be enough to win this thing and send Kamala to the White House,” Walz told the audience.

However, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler said given the new push from former President Donald Trump and Republicans in support of early voting, “Democrats should expect Republicans to vote in massive numbers.”

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said on Oct. 21 that Trump and Republicans have been “very clear” in their support for voting early. Schimming even put in a plug for using absentee ballot drop boxes, a method of returning ballots that Trump once opposed and that some Wisconsin Republicans still do.

As of Oct. 21, more than 360,000 absentee ballots had already been returned in Wisconsin. Voters can continue to return them by mail, in person, or at absentee ballot drop boxes in communities where those are available. All absentee ballots must be received by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.