Elections Work!
Tens of thousands of Wisconsinites work together to make elections happen.
High voter turnout makes WI elections a success — 2,668,891 Wisconsinites voted in 2022!
Elections Work (By the Numbers)
polling places (many are schools and churches)
Wisconsinites are active registered voters
Wisconsinites voted in the midterms
voted early or by mail in the last election
Key Issues
Drop Boxes
WI moved to all mail-in or in-person voting in 2022. Drop boxes are not being used in 2023.
Voting Machines
WI municipalities choose their voting systems, which are regularly and publicly tested for accuracy and reliability. WI requires a paper record of every vote that is cast.
Ballot Security
Ballots cast in WI are subject to strict “chain of custody” requirements. Votes cannot be added, changed or deleted. Election results are audited for accuracy.
Who Can Vote
Only WI residents who are U.S. citizens can vote in the upcoming April 2023 election. All registered voters, including independents, can vote in the upcoming April 2023 election. WI election officials update voter registration lists regularly.
Transparency
All citizens have the right to observe the elections process, including procedures at polling places and the counting of votes.
FAQs
Are mail-in ballots prone to fraud?
Wisconsin allows absentee voting for all registered voters. Several safety measures are in place to keep mail-in voting secure.
Registered voters must apply for and be verified by local county election officials before they receive a mail-in ballot. Mail-in ballots must include a witness statement confirming the voter filled out their own ballot.
A person who has requested a mail ballot who then wants to vote in person has to destroy the absentee ballot or, if they have already mailed it, request that the clerk’s office cancel it before they will be allowed vote in person. Clerks use a database to track every single ballot handed out in Wisconsin and make sure that voters only vote once.
Anyone who requested a mail ballot who also votes in person has their in-person ballot set aside as a provisional ballot until local election workers confirm that person did not vote by mail.
You can track your ballot online.
Are dead people on the voter rolls? How are they kept up to date?
Wisconsin law requires election officials to regularly update voter registration records and remove people who have died from the voter rolls. If a voter dies between casting their early vote and the election, their ballot is not counted.
Wisconsin is diligent about keeping its voter rolls up to date. Local election officials regularly check whether voters have moved, died, or are disqualified because of an active criminal conviction. Election officials regularly reach out by mail to voters who have been inactive, asking them to confirm their residence and desire to stay on the registration rolls. The state is also a member of ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, which provides election officials with information about voters who have moved or died. ERIC helps cross-check Wisconsin data against other states’ data.
Are voting machines secure? Can votes be deleted or switched?
Wisconsin’s voting systems are not connected to the internet. All Wisconsin votes are cast on paper, so the machine count can always be verified. State law requires that voting machines be subjected regularly to logic and accuracy tests, which are open to the public. The state uses systems certified by the federal government and further certified to operate in compliance with state law requirements.
An official Wisconsin government audit, “showed that there was no evidence that any voting equipment subject to audit and used in the 2020 General Election in Wisconsin changed votes from one candidate to another, incorrectly tabulated votes, or altered vote totals in any way.”
After a similar audit in 2022, the Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously determined the effective error rate of the 2022 post-election voting equipment was 0.0%.
Will we know results on election night? Why would vote totals change after Election Day?
It is normal and necessary for vote totals to change over the course of several days. Election officials often give out rolling totals while bipartisan teams of election workers are tallying, double checking, and updating the numbers. Local election workers count and validate each vote before it is included in the official tally, and that takes time. The first votes counted and reported are generally from people who voted in-person during the morning and afternoon of Election Day. Mail-in votes take longer to add to vote tallies.
WI law prevents mail-in ballots from being counted until Election Day.
Are there problems with the system for requesting an absentee ballot?
In 2020, Wisconsin strengthened its process for securely obtaining and casting an absentee ballot and implemented a new absentee ballot tracking system (MyVote Wisconsin) that was used more than 1.5 million times by voters across the state.
Wisconsin has safeguards to prevent absentee ballots from being cast illegally. A Wisconsin government review in September 2022 found only one case of a fraudulent request for an absentee ballot, which is now being prosecuted.
Was there fraud in the 2020 election? How about the 2022 election?
Despite the claims, more than 60 court cases and numerous investigations have found no evidence of fraud that would have affected the outcome of the 2020 election. Donald Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump’s Department of Justice, and their attorneys throughout the country investigated and found no evidence of widespread fraud. Ivanka Trump testified that she believed Barr when he said there was no widespread election fraud. No claims of substantial election fraud have survived legal scrutiny, and many were dismissed as meritless by Trump-appointed judges.
A robust, non-partisan review of the 2020 election in Wisconsin revealed the results were accurate and there was no widespread voter fraud. Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, who chairs the Legislature’s audit committee, said, “This audit showed us that the election was largely safe and secure” and “The (audit bureau) has been well-respected as a nonpartisan agency by both sides of the aisle & by their colleagues around the US.
An audit of Wisconsin voting machines for the 2022 midterms found that the state’s voting machines counted ballots accurately. The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously signed off on the audits results. “I think the results of this audit are remarkable,” said Republican commission member Bob Spindell. “And should give confidence to the people [of] Wisconsin that these machines work properly.””
- 2022 Wisconsin Voting Equipment Audit Finds No Mechanical Errors
- Trump AG Bill Barr testimony
- Judge: Wisconsin probe found ‘absolutely no’ election fraud
- GOP report on 2020 election “Lost not Stolen”
- Statement by Republican WI audit committee Chair
- WI Conservative Group Finds No Evidence of Fraud
- Republican review finds no fraud
- Republican Secretaries of State Find No Evidence of Fraud in 2022 Midterms
- State Voter Fraud Law Enforcement Units Across U.S. Find No Systemic Voter Fraud
Why is false information spreading about elections in WI?
Some false information is shared by people who don’t realize it isn’t accurate, but some false information is being spread intentionally to deceive people. Why would someone want to intentionally spread lies?
Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons. Some people have found they can make a lot of money. Politicians get a lot of media attention. Some candidates just don’t want to accept they lost. Some who spread false claims work for foreign governments, like China and Iran, that want to undermine trust in our democratic systems and hurt our country. Some are trying to justify passing new laws to make it harder to vote or easier to overturn election results for their political advantage.
How can I tell good information from bad information online?
Keep asking this question! Most people who share misinformation do so before considering whether what they are sharing is true. Lies about voting and elections can be particularly difficult to spot. A few things to look for: is a story or claim believable? does it come from a source you know is credible? does it cause a strong emotional response? does it come with a request for money? If the answers make you suspicious, you might want to look for an alternative, trusted source.
“I think the results of this audit are remarkable, and should give confidence to the people of Wisconsin that these machines work properly.”
Republican WEC Commissioner Bob Spindell,
regarding the 2022 midterm elections