Early voting kicks off in battleground state Wisconsin with pressure from Obama, Waltz – Madison.com

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Attendance early voting begins Tuesday in battleground Wisconsin, with former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Waltz hosting a rally in liberal Madison and Republicans holding events to encourage voting for Donald Trump before Election Day.

Trump lost Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020, an election that saw unprecedented early and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris face another razor-thin margin in Wisconsin, and both sides are urging voters to vote early.

Trump has been highly critical of mail-in voting in previous elections, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud. But in this election, he and his supporters are accepting all forms of voting, including mail-in and early in-person voting. Trump himself promoted early voting at a rally in Dodge County, Wisconsin, earlier this month.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said Monday that the message from Trump and Republicans for this year’s early elections was “very clear.” Schimming even put a plug on using absentee ballot boxes, a method of returning ballots that Trump once opposed and that some Wisconsin Republicans still do.

“We have to take advantage of every possible way to win votes,” Shimming said during a press conference. “If it’s the difference between getting a vote or not getting a vote, I say to Republicans, ‘Put it in the mailbox or put it in the drop box.'”

Many Republican officials and candidates planned to vote on Tuesday.

“You never know when a November snowstorm is going to come to Wisconsin,” said U.S. Rep. Brian Steele, who represents southeastern Wisconsin and plans to vote Tuesday. “This is a great opportunity while the weather is good to go to your local office and cast your vote and keep that vote.”

Obama and Waltz, the governor of neighboring Minnesota, have scheduled an early voting rally in the Democratic bastion of Madison. Harris held a rally at the same location last month, drawing more than 14,000 people.

It’s one of several stops the former president is making in battleground states to promote early voting.

Harris has been spending a lot of time in the blue-wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the final weeks of the campaign, including stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance was in the conservative suburb of Milwaukee on Sunday.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has also organized various events in Wisconsin to promote early voting, as have liberal advocacy groups, including Souls to the Polls, a Milwaukee-based organization that targets black voters. That’s a key demographic for Democrats in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and also the source of the most Democratic votes.

Wisconsin’s early voting period, which began Tuesday, runs through Sunday, Nov. 3. However, early voting locations and times vary from state to state. Voters need not provide a reason for absentee voting. Ballots began being mailed in late September, but beginning Tuesday, voters can request one at designated polling locations and vote in person.

As of Friday, more than 305,000 absentee ballots had already been returned in Wisconsin. Voters can continue to return them by mail, in person or at absentee ballots in communities where they are available. All absentee ballots must be received by the close of polls at 8:00 PM on Election Day.