Wisconsin Clerks Remind Voters that Full Election Results Will Take Time

Monday, November 7th, 2022 -- 9:01 AM

(By Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) As Wisconsin prepares for midterm elections on Tuesday, clerks are reminding voters that full results are likely to take time, especially with so many people expected to vote absentee.

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, under Wisconsin law, clerks can’t start processing and counting absentee ballots until polls open at 7 a.m. on Election Day. If volumes are large, the process can be lengthy, said Marie Moe, the president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association.

"People are expecting results as soon as the polls close and that just doesn't happen because the poll workers are busy doing their work, finishing up the election," said Moe, who is also the Portage city clerk.

By the start of the day Thursday, 593,819 absentee ballots had been returned across Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. At this point before the last gubernatorial election, only 420,015 had been returned. In 38 municipalities across Wisconsin, absentee ballots are processed and counted at a central location instead of each polling place.

That can lead to a large batch of votes coming in later in the evening or early the next morning. In 2020, former President Donald Trump used the late-night surge in results to falsely claim the election had been stolen from him.

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