Reply #5: News story on the voting on Sunday [View All]

[zulchzulu]

More than 1,300 people voted Saturday. So far, more than 16,000 people have voted in the clerk's office, which brings the absentee ballot total to some 30,000, according to mayoral spokesperson Rachel Strauch-Nelson.

Wisconsin is one of about 30 states that allows early absentee voting for any reason, a change made shortly before the 2000 presidential election, when about 6 percent of the electorate took advantage of it, according to the state Government Accountability Board. In 2004 that figure doubled to 12 percent.

Before the 2004 general election, the clerk's office issued 25,258 absentee ballots, Strauch-Nelson said.

A record number of Wisconsinites are expected to cast ballots before Election Day. Predictions that up to 15 percent of statewide voters will cast their votes early might have been too modest, state elections officials have said.

The interest in early voting is an indication that the polls will be jammed on Tuesday.

County Clerk Bob Ohlsen estimates turnout in Dane County will be 80 to 85 percent, but has ordered more ballots just in case. For the first time, county officials have ordered enough ballots for all eligible voters in the county. That's about 390,000 ballots, compared with 270,000 for the last presidential election.

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/312508