MADISON, Wis. — In-person early voting begins Tuesday in battleground Wisconsin, with former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz holding a rally in liberal Madison and Republicans holding events to encourage voting for Donald Trump before Election Day.
Trump lost Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020, an election that saw unprecedented early and mail-in voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris expect another razor-thin margin in Wisconsin and both camps are pushing voters to vote early.
Trump has been highly critical of mail-in voting in previous elections, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud. But for this election, he and his supporters are embracing all forms of voting, including mail-in and in-person voting. Trump himself encouraged early voting at a rally in Dodge County, Wisconsin, earlier this month.
Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said Monday that the anticipated message from Trump and Republicans this year is “very clear.” Schimming even put a damper on the use of drop boxes for mail-in ballots, a method of returning ballots that Trump once opposed and that some Wisconsin Republicans still use.
“We have to use every means imaginable to get votes,” Schimming said in a press call. “If it’s the difference between getting a vote or not getting a vote, I say to Republicans, ‘Put it in.’ mailbox or put it in the drop box.'”
Many elected officials and Republican candidates planned to vote on Tuesday.
“You never know when a snowstorm is going to come to Wisconsin in November,” said U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents southeastern Wisconsin and plans to vote Tuesday. “This is a great opportunity, while the weather is nice, to go to your local office, vote and put that vote in the bank.”
Obama and Walz, the governor of neighboring Minnesota, planned an early voting rally in the Democratic stronghold of Madison. Harris held a rally at the same location last month, drawing more than 10,000 people.
Obama visited neighboring Michigan on Tuesday, among several stops the former president is making in battleground states to encourage early voting.
Harris spent significant time in the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the final weeks of the campaign, including stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday. Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance was in the conservative Milwaukee suburbs on Sunday.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party was also holding various events across Wisconsin to encourage early voting, as were liberal advocacy groups including Souls to the Polls, a Milwaukee-based organization that targets black voters. This is a key demographic for Democrats in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and also the source of the largest number of Democratic votes.
The early voting period in Wisconsin which begins Tuesday ends on Sunday, November 3. However, early voting locations and times vary across the state. Voters do not need to justify their absence. Ballots began being sent by mail in late September, but starting Tuesday, voters can request one at designated polling locations and vote in person.
As of Friday, more than 305,000 mail-in ballots had already been returned in Wisconsin. Voters can continue to return them by mail, in person or at absentee ballot drop boxes in communities where they are available. All absentee ballots must be received before polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
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The story has been updated to correct the size of Harris’ rally last month from more than 14,000 to more than 10,000 people.
