The Safety and Licensing Committee met 03/23/2022. During the meeting they received an update on the Spring Election that it coming up Tuesday April 5. They received some important reminders about absentee voting and how that is happening under the current court order imposed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Clerk Kami Lynch told the committee she thought that most people were aware that, due to the recent court order, the city is unable to have drop boxes for this election. Also, the individual voter is the only one who can hand deliver their ballot to the clerk’s office. The individual voter is also the only person who could hand deliver their ballot to their polling place on election day. She wanted everybody to be very aware that they would have to make time to mail their ballot or they themselves would have to physically deliver it.
For people who did not have time to vote by mail, in-person absentee voting was available Monday, March 28 through noon on Friday April 1. She noted that they would be open until 6PM on Thursday March 31.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked if the poll workers had been trained to only accept absentee ballots on the day of voting from the particular person to whom that absentee ballot had been issued. She knew that prior to this election there had been people coming in with two or three ballots to hand in.
Clerk Lynch answered that all of their election inspectors would be informed that they had to operate under the court order and could only receive the ballots from the individual voter.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) thought that last time they had not wanted people to bring completed ballots if they were going to the polling place.
Clerk Lynch said that it was up to the individual voter as to how they voted that day. If they had been sent an absentee ballot, they could do a number of things:
- Act as if they had not received the absentee ballot and just go vote at their polling place like normal
- Bring the unvoted ballot to the polling place to be destroyed then vote like normal at the polling place
- Bring the completed absentee ballot that they had voted on in the presence of a witness and was fully filled out to the polling place to be handed there
The only thing they could not do was to take an absentee ballot to the polling place to be filled out and witnessed by an election inspector; in that case, rather, the person should just vote like normal at the polling place.
Alderperson Van Zeeland asked if they had standards in place to help voters with disability or mobility issues.
Clerk Lynch said they did have curbside voting. At polling places where the voting room wasn’t located right off the entrance of the building or couldn’t been seen from the curb, they would have a big doorbell that could be run to let people in the polling place know that there was something in the parking lot who needed assistance.
Alderperson Van Zeeland asked if it would be acceptable for someone in that position to hand in their absentee ballot curbside.
Clerk Lynch said she would permit the city’s election inspectors to accept absentee ballots in that situation because the person was return the ballot at the polling place and it was the voter themselves returning it.
Alderperson Joe Martin (District 4) said that on the Monday prior to the committee meeting he had seen people coming into City Hall to drop off their ballots. An elderly woman had brought in both her ballot and her husband’s ballot and the clerk had very nicely and respectfully told her that they could not accept the ballot from someone other than the person who had voted on it. He applauded how the situation had been handled and thought it was managed very professionally.
Alderperson Michael Smith (District 10) asked if Clerk Lynch had any indication of how voting was going in terms of in-person absentee and early balloting.
Clerk Lynch said that Tuesday March 22, the day prior to the committee meeting, had been the first day for in-person absentee voting. Voting had been steady that day, and she noted the first day tended to be busier. Mailed ballots were a little slower and more on par with the spring election of 2021. As of Monday March 21, they had issued a little over 3,200 mail-in ballots and in 2021 they had issued around 3,800. She thought they would get close to last year’s number.
View election information here: https://www.appleton.org/government/city-clerk/elections
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=937053&GUID=13A9E412-85E0-455B-8475-71D578C3EB0C
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