The August 11th Election Primary is right around the corner.
I spoke with Melissa Kono, Municipal Clerk Specialist with the UW-Madison Local Government Education Center, and she discussed the election and what’s needed in more detail.
If you have any questions about the upcoming election, you can check the myvotewi.gov website or contact your local municipal clerk.
(AI assisted transcription via Otter.ai)
Melissa: “The August election is actually the primary for our November election. So, what we’re doing is whittling down the ballot to choose the candidates that are going to appear in the November election. Now, the August is a partisan primary, meaning voters can only vote in one party.”
“And I know sometimes that can be a little confusing because in a general election, people can vote for candidates regardless of party. But in a partisan primary, voters have to select a party and only vote for candidates in that party.”
“Now, voters don’t have to, you know, register with a party or tell election workers at the polling place that they want to vote in a certain party. In Wisconsin, voters are allowed to do this privately, so they’ll receive a ballot and on the ballot they will select a party and then only vote for the candidates in, say, the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.”
“There’s also a couple other parties, such as the Green Party, Libertarian Party, that appear on the ballot. And so, in August, the selections include governor and lieutenant governor, the state offices of secretary of state, state treasurer, and the attorney general, and then by county, it’s the county constitutional officers, which are sheriff, clerk of courts, and then a coroner if the county has a coroner.”
“So, those do appear by party and so voters just choose to vote in one party, select those candidates, and then whoever wins their party nomination in August will then proceed to be on the November ballot. In November, voters can just select the candidate for office that they choose.”
Riley: “And now, just some reminders for people heading to the polls for the August primary: ID. They still need ID to vote, correct?”
Melissa: “Yep, voters still need to present a photo ID, so such as a Wisconsin driver’s license or photo ID card, passport, military ID, or student ID from a Wisconsin university, college, or tech school are all acceptable forms of photo ID that voters will need to bring with them to the polls in order to receive a ballot.”
Riley: “And now, when it comes to voting absentee, I think, you know, we’re getting a little down to the wire here when it comes to mailing in ballots. But people do have the option to vote absentee, correct?”
Melissa: “Yep. And there’s a couple of options with that. If a voter would like to have a ballot mailed to them, yes, they should probably do that sooner rather than later, just because the mail does take a bit of time, and the easiest way to do that is to go on myvote.wi.gov, and voters can request an absentee ballot and then track the process of that ballot, such as the clerk has received the request, the clerk has sent out the ballot, and then when the clerk receives that ballot back from the voter.”
“It’s also registered in there and there’s also the option of voting in person absentee. So, either connecting with the clerk to make an appointment to come in and fill out a ballot or some clerks offer in-person absentee voting hours and usually those are listed and voters can just go in at times. So, that information is also on the myvote.wi.gov site.”
Riley: “Anything else? Anything you’d like people to know about before the August 11th primary?”
Melissa: “Yeah, I just wanted to say a couple things about voter registration. So, if somebody is a new voter or they have moved or changed their name or their address, they should go on the myvote.wi.gov site, and there they can register to vote. Can even check their registration.”
“They can see information such as where their polling place is, who their clerk is and they can actually see what their ballot looks like and that can be a really great tool if you want to do some research, because the ballot for August, especially, is really long, like it’s front and back on a long sheet of paper, and I know that we see signs up for some candidates, but you don’t always know who’s going to be on the ballot or what they’re like as a candidate.”
“So, you can always look at that ballot ahead of time to do some research or to even just get a sense of what to expect either when you go to the polls or when you get your absentee ballot. What that ballot might look like, and registering online ahead of time through the My Vote site.”
“Makes things so much easier on election day. Voters in Wisconsin can still register to vote on election day in Wisconsin. It’s a great feature, but if they want to do it ahead of time, it makes the process a lot smoother. They can also register to vote with their clerk.”
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