The 2024 presidential election has seen a record-breaking year for early voting in Madison, according to City Communications Manager Dylan Brogan.
Brogan said he suspects the high number of early voters is likely due to awareness and encouragement of early voting this year.
“I suspect that people are ready for this election to be wrapped up and are just anxious to get their ballot in,” Brogan said.
Brogan also highlighted the significant impact of organizations on both sides of the political spectrum that encouraged people to vote early.
In past elections, Democrats favored early in-person and mail-in voting, according to Newsweek. This election, Republicans are voting early with presidential candidate Donald Trump’s encouragement, according to AP News.
There have been 56,227 in-person absentee ballots submitted in Madison, according to a preliminary estimate updated Nov. 3.
In the 2020 presidential election, 25,635 in-person absentee votes were recorded, according to Brogan. He acknowledged that 2020 was an abnormal year considering the COVID-19 pandemic, but said this year’s early voting numbers are still significant compared to other years.
There have been over 10,500 early voters on the University of Wisconsin campus so far, according to Brogan. He suspects this could be a result of higher admissions numbers in addition to other factors influencing early voting.
Brogan said he has seen high levels of enthusiasm from early voters, even with longer wait times at some voting locations.
“People in general were very awesome and had a great vibe about the whole thing,” Brogan said. “They were there to exercise their right to vote.”
The Memorial Union and Union South polling places were busiest during early voting, while Madison Municipal Building had shorter waiting times, according to Brogan.
Brogan said early voting went “exceedingly well,” and said they are prepared for Nov. 5 with 3,300 well-trained poll workers working on Election Day.
Brogan acknowledged people’s sense of urgency to hear results on election day and said absentee ballots take a little longer than in-person ballots to be counted. He expects Dane County’s results to be announced Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
“We’re pretty darn quick here in Dane County in general, so I don’t think that’ll [delayed results] be a concern in our area whatsoever,” Brogan said.
