MADISON, Wis. (AP) – In-person early voting begins Tuesday in battleground Wisconsin, with former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz hosting a rally in liberal Madison and Republicans hosting get-out-the-vote events for Donald Trump to encourage before election day.
Trump lost Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020, an election that saw unprecedented early and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris again expect a razor-thin margin in Wisconsin and both parties are urging voters to cast their ballots early.
Trump was highly critical of mail-in voting in previous elections and falsely claimed there was fraud. But this election, he and his supporters are embracing all forms of voting, including by mail and in person. Trump himself encouraged early voting earlier this month at a rally in Dodge County, Wisconsin.
Brian Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said Monday that the message from Trump and Republicans as voting began this year was “very clear.” Schimming has even put a plug on the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, a method of returning ballots that Trump once opposed and some Wisconsin Republicans still oppose.
“We have to use every conceivable way to get votes,” Schimming said during a press call. “If it’s the difference between getting a vote or not, I tell Republicans, ‘Put it in.’ the mailbox or put it in the mailbox.'”
Numerous Republican officeholders and candidates planned to cast their votes on Tuesday.
“You never know when a snowstorm will hit Wisconsin in November,” said U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents southeastern Wisconsin and will vote on Tuesday. “It’s a great opportunity, now that the weather is nice, to go to your local office and cast your vote and have that vote saved.”
Obama and Walz, the governor of neighboring Minnesota, planned an early voting meeting in the Democratic stronghold of Madison. Harris held a rally at the same location last month, drawing more than 14,000 people.
It’s one of several stops the former president is making in battleground states to encourage early voting.
Harris has spent a lot of time in the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the final weeks of the campaign, including stops in both Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance was in the conservative suburbs of Milwaukee on Sunday.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin also hosted a variety of events across Wisconsin to encourage early voting, as did liberal advocacy groups, including Souls to the Polls, a Milwaukee-based organization targeting black voters. That’s a key demographic for Democrats in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and the source of the highest number of Democratic votes.
Wisconsin’s early voting period, which begins Tuesday, runs through Sunday, November 3. However, early voting locations and times vary from state to state. Voters do not have to give a reason for their absence. Ballots were mailed out in late September, but starting Tuesday, voters can request one at designated polling locations and cast their ballots in person.
As of Friday, more than 305,000 absentee ballots had been returned in Wisconsin. Voters can drop them off by mail, in person or at absentee ballot drop boxes in communities where they are available. All absentee ballots must be received before the polls close at 8:00 PM on Election Day.
