Mail It Back Monday

As of today, the City Clerk’s Office has issued 615 absentee ballots for the February Primary, with 123 returned to be counted. 

The Clerk’s Office strongly encourages absentee voters to mail back their absentee ballots today, if possible. By mailing your absentee ballot today, February 12, you give the U.S. Postal Service a week to deliver it.

Per state law, only absentee ballots that are returned by Election Day are eligible for processing. The Clerk’s Office delivers these ballots to the polls on Election Day to be counted at each voter’s designated polling place. 

In order for an absentee ballot to count, the absentee envelope must be

• Sealed
• Signed by the voter
• Signed by the voter’s witness
• Bearing the printed name of the witness
• Filled out with the witness address

Absentee ballots received after Election Day cannot be counted. The postmark does not count.

City of Madison absentee voters who have yet to return their ballot have a few options:

• Using the postage-paid certificate envelope provided by the Clerk’s Office, mail the ballot back promptly.
• Deliver the sealed ballot, enclosed in its signed certificate envelope, to any City of Madison in-person absentee voting site during voting hours.
• If preferred, destroy the absentee ballot and vote in-person instead.

Voters who have returned an absentee ballot to be counted cannot vote at the polls on Election Day without committing a felony.

To track your ballot, visit myvote.wi.gov.

The goal of the City Clerk’s Office is that each eligible voter will be able to cast a ballot and have that ballot count.