Milwaukee Common Council, mayor almost miss deadline to approve 16 early voting sites for August, November elections
In a late-night special meeting, the Milwaukee Common Council approved a list of 16 in-person early voting locations for the August and November elections.
The 10 Common Council members present at the 11:30 p.m. meeting Thursday approved the legislation and adjourned in just over 2 minutes. Mayor Tom Barrett signed it before midnight.
It's a sharp increase from prior years. The city opened eight early voting locations in the November 2018 election. In 2016, only three such locations were open.
Though Barrett earlier Thursday said he hoped the council would vote on the increased number of sites next week, they actually needed to be approved before midnight to meet the state's deadline for setting early voting locations.
The state statute that gives municipalities the power to designate locations for absentee or early voting also notes that this should happen "no fewer than 14 days prior to the time that absentee ballots are available for the primary."
June 25 — 14 days from Thursday — was the deadline for municipal clerks to send absentee ballots to voters with requests on file.
Common Council President Cavalier Johnson told the Journal Sentinel that they'd planned to consider the measure Tuesday, but officials found out the statutory deadline was actually Thursday, prompting the late-night meeting.
He said he did not know who is tasked with ensuring the city meets such deadlines.
A spokesperson for Barrett did not immediately respond Thursday night to requests for comment on the timing of the meeting.
The sites the city is planning to use are:
- Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway
- Midtown Center, 5700 W. Capitol Dr.
- Manitoba School, 4343 W. Forest Home Ave.
- Zablocki Library, 3501 W. Oklahoma Ave.
- Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), 700 W. State St.
- University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Student Union, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.
- IndependenceFirst, 540 S. 1st St.
- East Library, 2320 N. Cramer St.
- Mitchell Street Library, 906 W. Historic Mitchell St.
- Washington Park Library, 2121 N. Sherman Blvd.
- Villard Square Library, 5190 N. 35th St.
- Good Hope Library, 7717 W. Good Hope Rd.
- Bay View Library, 2566 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
- Tippecanoe Library, 3912 S. Howell Ave.
- Cannon Park Pavilion, 303 N. 95th St.
- Clinton Rose Senior Center, 3045 N. King Dr.
The sites will be used if they are open to the public, the safety precautions are approved by the city's Health Department and there is a large enough staff.
"As we all know, the April election was such a fiasco here in the city of Milwaukee when we had the voting during really probably the most intense time of this (coronavirus) pandemic," Barrett said at an afternoon news conference.
The city has had early in-person voting at the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building and has expanded it to additional sites in recent elections, he said.
"After what we went through here in April, we want to make sure that we are not the headlines in the fall," he said. "We want to make sure that whatever happens in August, November that the headlines are about who won and who lost the election, not how the election was handled here in the Milwaukee area or anywhere in this country."
Milwaukee officials faced criticism after voters experienced long lines and hours-long waits in the city, which normally has 180 election day polling sites, after officials cut its number of voting locations to just five for the April election.
Barrett and Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Neil Albrecht repeatedly said the sharp reduction in voting sites was due to a shortage of poll workers during the coronavirus pandemic. They also criticized Republican state legislative leaders who decided to go through with an in-person election and refused to delay the date.
Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.
Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.
