Campaigns encourage early voting

WLUK TV

Updated: Oct 10, 2012 5:42 PM

GREEN BAY — Both Democrats and Republicans are encouraging people around Wisconsin to vote early.

Obama for America's "Gotta Vote" bus tour rolled into Green Bay Wednesday morning.

Meeting with local supporters was Vice President Joe Biden's son, Beau Biden.

"Look we have 27 days left, 27 days left, until November 6th," he said to a crowd of supporters.

Biden said its important people get to the polls as early as possible.

"Just enthusiasm, you know, locks in votes early, and you know, you see lines at polling places on Election Day it avoids that," Biden said.

Officials with the Mitt Romney campaign say GOP volunteers are also working on getting that same message across.

They're doing that by knocking on doors, making phone calls and sending out absentee ballot mail.

"There's a lot of voters who might not otherwise be able to get out to the polls on Election Day, and it's a good way of ensuring that our supporters are able to use all means necessary to cast a ballot," said Ben Sparks with the Romney campaign.

"We have approximately 400 that have already voted absentee," said Ledgeview deputy clerk Nancy Hawley.

Hawley said that number is high, and she doesn't think things will slow down.

Before voting, Hawley says you need to register in the municipality you live in.

"If you can register before the 18th of October, which is called open registration, you don't need anything, you don't need proof of residence," Hawley said.

The Government Accountability Board says voters' best sources of information are their local clerk and myvote.wi.gov, not mailings from political parties and independent groups.

"These groups are out there saying get this done so that you're prepared and a lot of times because we run such a decentralized set of elections where we keep it very local at your municipal clerk's office. The information gets confusing, sometimes it gets misdirected, and it's a constant battle," said Kevin Kennedy with the GAB.

People who want to vote early may also do so in person at their clerk's office starting October 22nd.

"I've had a lot of questions that how am I going to know that my vote is going to be counted, and they're not counted until the Election Day. They're actually not even opened until then," said Hawley.

Early in-person voting ends Friday, November 2nd.

The GAB said if you mail in an absentee ballot, it must be post marked no later than Election Day and received by the municipal clerk no later than 4 p.m. on the Friday after the election.

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