I thought this would be helpful given the amount of questions people are asking me . . . Of course, you can get more info at the City of Madison Clerk’s office or at
REGISTER AT THE POLLS
Persons who register or change their address at the polls on election day must present acceptable proof of residence. Voters registering for the first time in the State of Wisconsin must provide proof of residence if registering by mail.
Any of the following may be used as proof if it contains the address of residence:
- A current and valid Wisconsin driver’s license or Wisconsin identification card.
- Any other official identification card or license issued by a Wisconsin governmental body or unit
- An identification card issued by an employer in the normal course of business, which has a photograph of the cardholder, but not a business card.
- A real estate tax bill or receipt for the current year or the year preceding the date of the election.
- A residential lease.
- A UW-Madison or Edgewood College ID card with a photograph of the cardholder, if student is listed on certified housing list.
- A utility bill for the period commencing not earlier than 90 days before the election.
- A bank statement.
- A paycheck.
- A check or other document issued by a unit of government.
Here’s info on how to get a absentee ballot, they must be postmarked by election day to be completed.
ABSENTEE VOTING
By mail through Thursday, May 31:
- Absentee Ballot Request (you can fill out, print, sign, send in
with a copy of your id) effective 3/6/2012, ID is not required- Permanent Absentee Ballot Request (indefinitely confined)
- Overseas Ballot Request
RETURN COMPLETED REQUESTS TO:
Madison City Clerk
210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. #103
Madison, WI 53703By email through Thursday, May 31:
- voting@cityofmadison.com
In person through Friday, June 1:
- Monday, May 21 – Friday, May 25, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Saturday, May 26, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Sunday, May 27, 12 noon to 4 p.m.
- Monday, May 28, 9 a.m. to noon
- Tuesday, May 29 – Friday, June 1, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in summer elections as a college student
As a student at UW-Madison or Edgewood College, you may choose to register and vote from your parents’ residence, or you may choose to register and vote from your Madison residence.
For elections held in the summer:
If you are registered to vote in Madison but have left Madison with the intention of returning to Madison, you may vote from the address at which you are registered to vote in Madison. When requesting an absentee ballot, be sure to give the Clerk’s Office the address to which the ballot should be sent, in addition to the address at which you are registered to vote. You may not register to vote at a temporary address.
If you are registered to vote in Madison but have left Madison with no intention of returning, you will need to register and vote in your new municipality once you have been there long enough to establish residency.
See the relevant State Statutes listed below.
§ 6.10
(4) The residence of an unmarried person sleeping in one ward and boarding in another is the place where the person sleeps. The residence of an unmarried person in a transient vocation, a teacher or a student who boards at different places for part of the week, month, or year, if one of the places is the residence of the person’s parents, is the place of the parents’ residence unless through registration or similar act the person elects to establish a residence elsewhere. If the person has no parents and if the person has not registered elsewhere, the person’s residence shall be at the place that the person considered his or her residence in preference to any other for at least 28 consecutive days before an election. If this place is within the municipality, the person is entitled to all the privileges and subject to all the duties of other citizens having their residence there, including voting.
(5) A person shall not lose residence when the person leaves home and goes into another state or county, town, village or ward of this state for temporary purposes with an intent to return.
(8) No person gains a residence in any ward or election district of this state while there for temporary purposes only.
Make Sure Your Absentee Ballot Gets Counted!
Ten to 15 percent* of absentee ballots do not get counted. Absentee ballots are rejected for the following reasons:
- Ballot has not been postmarked by Election day and not been received by the Clerk’s Office until after Friday of Election Week.
- Voter has not signed absentee certificate envelope.
- Voter has not had a witness sign the absentee certificate envelope.
- Voter has not registered to vote at their current address.
- Voter has not sealed the absentee certificate envelope.
- Voter has not sent original absentee request to Clerk’s Office after submitting request by fax or e-mail.
The City Clerk’s Office strongly encourages absentee voters to take the following precautions:
- Either vote absentee in the Clerk’s Office, or carefully read the instruction letter that you receive with your absentee ballot.
- Mail your absentee ballot back to the Clerk’s Office as early as possible. The ballot must be postmarked by Election day and received by the Clerk’s Office Friday of Election Week.
- Make sure you sign the certificate envelope on the line marked “Signature of Voter.”
- Have your witness sign the certificate envelope on the line marked “Signature of Witness.”
- Make sure the envelope is sealed.
- If you have moved, you must register to vote at your new address. Crossing out the address on your absentee label and writing in your new address does not update your voter registration.
*In November 2008, 331 of the 29,000 ballots sent to City of Madison polling places were rejected. An additional 3,343 ballots were not received by Election Day.
*In February 2009, 230 of the 1,547 absentee ballots returned to the City Clerk’s Office were either rejected at the polls, or not received by Election Day. An additional 730 ballots were not returned to the City Clerk’s Office at all.
WHERE DO I VOTE
If in Madison, check here.
The rest of Wisconsin, click here.
FOR THE CURRENTLY HOMELESS
Info is here . . . you need a letter from an agency saying you are homeless.
(I’m concerned this might not be entirely correct, but its is from the GAB – its from August, so still says they need an ID.)
