Damakant Jayshi

Residents interested in early voting for the 2024 primary elections can do so beginning Tuesday, Feb. 6, according to local election officials.

All in-person voting will take place at the respective clerks’ offices, but municipal staff can visit eligible nursing home residents for assistance with voting.

“Wisconsin allows election workers to go into qualified care facilities and assist residents to vote since it can be harder for them to get to their polling place on election day,” Wausau City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde told Wausau Pilot & Review. “Residents have to follow the same rules to be eligible to vote including residing at the care facility for 28 days before an election, and being a US citizen.”

The election workers who conduct this voting are called Special Voting Deputies (SVD). Typically, teams of two SVDs assist a voter with voting, preferably one SVD from each political party in a team, Bernarde said.

Both SVDs sign the absentee envelope as witnesses. All materials including ballots are returned to the Clerk’s Office and “remain sealed until Election Day and are processed with all other absentee ballots,” she said.

All eligible residents need to complete an absentee application in order to receive a ballot. Voters can request absentee ballots online or download one in English, Spanish and Hmong. Bernarde said officials are required to make two attempts to reach a voter before an absentee voter can be mailed.

There will be no in-person early voting at the Marathon County Clerk’s office. Rather, those ballots are handled by municipal clerks, said marathon County Clerk Kim Trueblood. Each clerk sets their own hours during the in-person absentee voting period.

Other than nursing homes, Trueblood said, all in-person absentee voting has to be done in the clerk’s office.

Primary elections have been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20 and the spring election is on Tuesday, April 2.

Primaries will be required for the mayoral race and one district each for the Wausau City Council and the Marathon County Board of Supervisors. A primary is also required in Kronenwetter, where a record number of candidates have emerged. No primaries will be needed for three area school board races.

Incumbent Katie Rosenberg, city’s Dist. 4 Alder Doug Diny and Christopher Wood are vying to be Wausau’s next mayor.

Dist. 4 on the Wausau City Council will require a primary. Former Wausau alder Tom Neal, Debra Weiss and Vylius Leskys are vying to represent the district. Likewise, incumbent county supervisor Joel Straub, former supervisor and current Wausau Economic Development Manager Randy Fifrick and Kronenwetter Village Board Trustee Alexander Vedvik are in the race to represent Dist. 15 on the county board.

In Kronenwetter, newcomers Ryan T. Leff, Scott R. Dauel, Cindy Lee Buchkowski-Hoffman and Aaron Myszka will face incumbents Timothy J. Shaw, Sean Dumais and Ken Charneski, as well as, Joel Straub and Kim Tapper, who served as trustees from 2021 to 2023. During the primary election, the top six vote-getters in Konenwetter will be placed on the ballot in April.

The dates for the early voting for the primary are Tuesday, Feb. 6 through Saturday, Feb. 17. On weekdays, the time is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday. No voting will take place on Saturday, Feb. 10 and Sunday, Feb. 11.

Voter registration for the primary is also allowed during these times at the city clerk’s office.

Similar, early voting for the spring election 2024 will begin on Tuesday, March 19 through Saturday, March 30. Voting hours are similar to the primary ones, 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. No voting is scheduled on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24.

According to the Wausau election information page, voter registration for the spring election for April 2 is also allowed during these times at the clerk’s office.

Vital election and voter information, per Wausau’s election information page

Indefinitely Confined voters are defined by state law as, “indefinitely confined because of age, physical illness or infirmity or is disabled for an indefinite period.” This law has been on the books for more than 30 years.

Temporarily Overseas If you reside in Wisconsin and will be overseas on Election Day, you can request an absentee ballot be emailed or mailed to the address where you are staying in another country.

Military Voters & Permanently Overseas voters have special rules and additional options for voting. If you are a military or overseas voter, you are eligible to receive your absentee ballot electronically.”

Acceptable proof of identification

  • A Wisconsin DOT-issued driver license, even if driving privileges are revoked or suspended.
  • A Wisconsin DOT-issued identification card.
  • A Military ID card issued by a U.S. uniformed service.
  • A U.S. passport.
  • A Tribal identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in Wisconsin.
  • A student ID issued by an accredited Wisconsin college, university or technical college. Must include your name, signature, photo, and issue and expiration dates.

If the card is expired, you must also provide a document that shows you are enrolled in the school at the time of the election. For example, this could be an enrollment verification letter, class schedule, tuition fee receipt, or certified campus housing list.

These photo IDs are also acceptable for voting purposes, but must be unexpired:

  • A Veterans Affairs ID Card issued by the Veterans Health Administration of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs
  • A certificate of naturalization that was issued not earlier than two years before the date of an election at which it is presented.
  • A driving receipt issued by Wisconsin DOT (valid for 45 days)
  • An identification card receipt issued by Wisconsin DOT (valid for 45 days).
  • A temporary identification Petition Process (IDPP) (valid for 60 days).