Hi, folks,

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation six years ago, Wisconsin clerks transformed how they administered elections to accommodate skyrocketing absentee voting. In the years since, officials around the state have realized that absentee voting is here to stay.

This election, we’re seeing Wisconsin voters changing how they cast absentee ballots. Namely, there’s a growing reliance on in-person absentee voting.

As of Tuesday, Wisconsin’s first day of early voting, voters had requested about 20% fewer mail ballots than at the same point before the November 2022 election. Some clerks questioned what that meant. The consensus was that voters have less trust in the mail system than they used to have.

In the days since early voting began, it has become apparent that the initial decrease in mail voting wasn’t a sign that voting enthusiasm is down. As of earlier today, voters had cast more than 103,000 in-person early ballots. That’s compared with 65,000 in-person early votes at this time in the November 2022 midterm election.

On the first day of early voting, I drove to a few early voting sites in Milwaukee and nearby suburbs of Greenfield and New Berlin to learn more about why voters preferred to cast in-person ballots.

Greenfield resident Nereida Loma told me she had trouble requesting a mail ballot this election and opted to vote in person instead.

“When you put it in the mail, you don’t know if it’s going to count — if it’s going to come or not,” said Loma, who said she plans to vote in-person from now on.

In New Berlin, Clerk Rubina Medina told me that voters often tell her they don’t trust the mail.

She said the distrust in the Postal Service is often unwarranted and driven by the media, but that she does recognize that mail is slower than it used to be.

“We used to advertise a mail-it-back Monday, the week prior to election day,” she said. “We now advertise that two weeks prior.”

Let me know how you’re voting — or whether you have any questions about how to vote. You can reach me at [email protected] or by replying to this email.

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How to prepare for the midterms

Elections in the United States don’t only happen on Election Day. They happen in the weeks ahead as election officials process voter registrations, mail absentee ballots and administer early voting.

So, how is mail voting going across the country? Or early voting at the polls? And what should Americans know about potential federal interference ahead of Election Day? Check in with election experts at Votebeat’s virtual event on Oct. 27 at 12 p.m. ET.

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