Hello All –
Our fantastic City Clerk, Carey Danen, provided the Council with an election update for November and I’d like to share what I learned.
The City plans to use all 4 polling places on Election Day, with the Swan Club being used as the temporary location for District 2. District 2 voters normally vote at the St. Francis Community Center, which has since been torn down and will eventually be rebuilt. The City is looking into mailing postcards to all District 2 residents with this update.
The City of De Pere uses a Central Count for absentee ballots. This means that all absentee ballots are processed at one location, in City Hall, on Election Day. Think of it as an extra polling place, just for absentee ballots. For obvious reasons, the City is expecting a record turnout of absentee voters for this election. I’ve shared some of the Clerk’s projections below:
Turnout Projections
- The City has 14,795 registered voters as of August 2020. Back in 2016, we saw a 14% increase between August and November. If this holds true there will be 16,860 registered voters by Election Day
- 80% voter turnout would be 13,490 people (we had 76.5% turnout for the last presidential, and 77.5% turnout for the 2018 gubernatorial election)
- If 85% of the total turnout votes absentee like they did in April, that would mean approximately 11,400 ballots to process at Central Count on Election Day. For comparison, the City of De Pere processed 5,573 ballots in April.
- The City has 3 tabulators to use for processing absentee ballots (a third tabulator was recently purchased with CARES subgrant funding.) Brown County is trying to acquire additional rental machines for municipalities to use.
Absentee Voting
- The City had 4,800 requests on file as of August 28
- Ballots must be mailed to voters with requests on file on September 17th
- Ballots can be tracked on myvote.wi.gov
- There will be Absentee Ballot signage on the City Hall Drop Box, so voters are welcome to drop off their ballots rather than mail them back
- In-person absentee voting will be held from Tuesday, October 20th – Friday, October 30th 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM (until 5:00 PM on last Friday)
- If you would like to request an absentee ballot for November, visit myvote.wi.gov to make your request.
- The Wisconsin Elections Commission is sending out Absentee Ballot Applications to any registered voter who does not have an active request on file. Please note: if you have made a request already and get the mailing, it is likely due to the overlap in when their list was created and when you made your request. You can check the myvote.wi.gov website to double-check your request.
Alderperson Shana Ledvina 