Early in-person voting in Wisconsin begins Tuesday
Oct 20, 2026 | 4:15 am ET
Description
Voting booths set up at Madison, Wisconsin's Hawthorne Library on Election Day 2022. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
In-person absentee voting for Wisconsin’s elections begins on Tuesday, with hours and locations varying by municipality.
Elections officials have said ahead of the midterms that they expect early voting to be especially popular this year as concerns mount about the speed and reliability of sending absentee ballots through the U.S. postal system.
Data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission shows that as of Monday morning, 364,888 absentee ballots have already been requested and 173,164 of those have been returned. Those numbers lag the 2022 election when 438,673 absentee ballots had been requested and 195,287 had been returned by the same point.
WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe said the early numbers suggest a surge in popularity for early voting.
“Although voter behaviors are difficult to forecast, the data so far indicates that local clerks should prepare for higher turnout during in-person absentee voting,” Wolfe said in a Monday news release.
About 2.6 million people voted in Wisconsin in the 2022 midterm elections. Officials expect turnout to be similar to that total this year.
State election officials have recommended that absentee voters should mail their ballots at least two weeks before the election to give a large enough buffer to ensure they are received by Election Day. With the clock ticking before polls open on Nov. 3, voters can also return their absentee ballots directly to local clerks’ offices or, in municipalities that use them, into ballot drop boxes.
“If you’re planning to mail your ballot back, you should do so as soon as possible,” Wolfe said. “Your ballot must arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.”
The in-person absentee voting process involves a voter requesting an absentee ballot, completing the ballot and returning it to the clerk all in one stop. Voters will need to provide a voting-eligible photo ID to receive their ballots.
In-person absentee voting runs through Nov. 1. Local hours and early voting sites can be found at MyVote.WI.gov.
Madison, WI
