WAUSAU – The city of Wausau encourages its residents to vote early or absentee in the Aug. 11 partisan primary because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In-person voting will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from July 28 through Aug. 7 at Wausau City Hall in downtown Wausau. Residents can also complete voter registration during this time as the deadline to register to vote by mail and online has passed. Contact clerk Leslie Kremer, at 715-261-6622 with questions.

Voters who want to request an absentee ballot by mail for the Aug. 11 partisan primary must do so by Aug. 6, however, voters are strongly encouraged not to wait until then because processing or postal delays could make it difficult to receive and return the ballot by election day, Aug. 11.

Your absentee ballot must be received by the clerk no later than 8 p.m. on election day. If you request an absentee ballot be mailed to you, you can still decide to vote at the polls on election day if you haven’t returned your absentee ballot.

New procedure

Beginning with the Aug. 11 partisan primary, Wausau will use Central Count for absentee ballot processing, so voters who return absentee ballots on election day should drop them off at City Hall instead of at their polling location. Election officials will continue to pick up absentee ballots dropped off by voters at polling locations as well.

How to request an absentee ballot

Unless a photo ID is on file from a previous absentee ballot request or you attest that you are an indefinitely confined voter, your request must be accompanied by a copy of your photo ID. More information on photo ID and exemptions can be found at https://bringit.wi.gov.

There are several ways registered voters can request absentee ballots. If you have internet access, the easiest way is to sign up at MyVote Wisconsin, https://myvote.wi.gov.

Registered voters can also request absentee ballots by mailing, emailing or faxing the municipal clerk’s office:

Leslie Kremer, clerk
407 Grant St.
Wausau, WI 54403
[email protected]
Fax: 715-261-6626

Absentee ballot request forms are available from the Wisconsin Elections Commission website in English and Spanish:

https://elections.wi.gov/forms/EL-121-english
https://elections.wi.gov/forms/EL-121-spanish

Polling locations will be open on election day and will follow the social distancing standards and additional sanitizing precautions.