Common Council

Options for Voters with Absentee Ballots to Return

10.6% of Absentees Yet to be Returned

Election officials are only able to count absentee ballots that are received by Election Day, per state law. Voters who have yet to return an absentee ballot to the Clerk's Office have six options:

1. Drop of the absentee ballot in one of the 14 secure ballot drop boxes around the City of Madison. Most drop boxes are located at Madison Fire Stations. Voters have until 5:00pm on Monday, November 2, to return their ballot to a drop box. https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting/voting/vote-absentee/ballot-drop-off-sites.
2. Drop off the absentee ballot with the poll workers at Lakeview Library, Pinney Library, Hawthorne Library, Goodman South Madison Library, Meadowridge Library, Sequoya Library, or Alicia Ashman Library on Friday, October 30, 12:00 – 6:00pm, or Saturday, October 31, 1:00 – 4:00pm. Poll workers are standing outside of the library wearing high visibility vests.
3. Destroy the absentee received in the mail, and vote absentee in person on Friday, October 30, 12:00 – 6:00pm, or Saturday, October 31, 1:00 – 4:00pm at Lakeview Library, Pinney Library, Hawthorne Library, Goodman South Madison Library, Meadowridge Library, or Sequoya Library. The Clerk's Office will also be open for voting absentee in person on Friday, October 30, 8:00am – 7:00pm, Saturday, October 31, 1:00 – 5:00pm, and Sunday, November 1, 1:00 – 5:00pm.
4. Drop off the absentee ballot at the City Clerk's Office on Friday, October 30, 8:00am – 7:00pm, Saturday, October 31, 1:00 – 5:00pm, or Sunday, November 1, 1:00 – 5:00pm. You can also drop it at the Clerk's Office on Monday, November 2, 8:00am – 4:30pm.
5. Drop off the absentee ballot at the voter's polling location on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 7:00am – 8:00pm. Many polling locations have changed due to the pandemic. Voters may verify their polling location for Tuesday's election at www.cityofmadison.com/WhereDoIVote.
6. Destroy the absentee received in the mail, and vote at the polls on Election Day. Voters may verify their polling location for Tuesday's election at www.cityofmadison.com/WhereDoIVote.

Voters may have a friend or family member deliver their absentee to an absentee voting site, a ballot drop-off site, or the polls.
The absentee envelope must have the voter's signature, the signature of a witness, and the witness' address. It is acceptable to have a spouse or family member sign as the witness as long as they are an adult U.S. citizen who is not a candidate on the ballot.

As of Thursday morning, the City Clerk's Office had issued 120,514 absentee ballots for the Presidential Election. The Clerk's Office has received 89.4% (107,738) of those ballots back.

Voters may track the status of their absentee ballot at https://MyVote.wi.gov .

Contacts

Maribeth Witzel-Behl, (608) 266-4601, clerk@cityofmadison.com