I blogged during May about the trend of voting via the Post Office. As one election official put it, “There is no line at your mailbox.” Just how popular is the absentee ballot? The Associated press reports that nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote before Election Day, November 4, 2008.
The numbers show an increasing percentage of voters want to take advantage of the absentee ballot because they are travelling, they are elderly and have difficulty getting to the polls, the convenience of considering their choices in the comfortable confines of their home, or simply because they can. Many states, including Wisconsin, allow anyone to vote absentee, no questions asked.
During 2000, 16 percent of voters in the United States cast their ballots early. The number increased to 22 percent in 2004.
Statewide in Wisconsin, according the Government Accountability Board’s Kyle Richmond quoted by the Associated Press, about 365,000 people used absentee ballots or cast early votes at clerk’s offices in 2004, about 12 percent of the voting age population in the state. The number is expected to grow this year to 15 percent.
Voters who request an absentee ballot should start getting them in the mail the week of October 6, 2008. Here are details on obtaining an absentee ballot in Wisconsin.
Here is an Associated Press story on the popularity of Post Office voting.
