Gov. Scott Walker's administration is going all in on suppressing the 2016 vote—and from all angles. That even includes absentee voting, a favorite of young people attending college, because the state has quietly moved up the deadline for receiving ballots.
Under the law the absentee ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8, in order to count. Previously, mail-in absentee ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day and received by a clerk’s office by 4 p.m. on the next Friday. […]
The new deadline for absentee ballots could catch the most stalwart voters by surprise because it wasn’t in effect during the August primary. The law was enacted in March, but it wasn’t set to take effect until September. […]
Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Elections Commission, urged mail-in absentee voters to send in their ballots as soon as possible, and definitely no later than Nov. 1.
“The post office can take up to one week to deliver mail now, and their vote is too valuable to risk to a late mailing because it has to be at the clerk’s office on Election Day,” Magney said.
The USPS is indeed advising voters to allow one full week for delivery. This is a pretty big and apparently unannounced change, and one more way Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin is screwing over voters. So far, early voting in the state is going gangbusters, tripling the count at this point in 2012, when early voting restrictions were in place. Those were struck down by a federal court, allowing a longer early vote period. But voters who might be trying to avoid polling hassles by voting absentee—or all those college students who can't make it home to vote—face this new restriction.
So if you or someone you know or love is voting absentee in Wisconsin, make sure they’re aware of this new deadline.
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