As Wisconsin voters prepare to head back to the polls for Tuesday’s recall primary, they can expect a different experience from the last time they cast a ballot because of a unique recall rule and changes in election law.
On Tuesday, voters will have the ability to cross party lines and vote for candidates from different parties in the primary recall elections, for governor and lieutenant governor. For example, a voter could cast his or her ballot for a Democrat in the governor’s primary but a Republican in the lieutenant governor’s primary since they can only vote for one candidate per office.
These rules only apply to Tuesday’s election because each recall election is technically a separate event that happens to occur on the same date. Normally, voters would only be able to cast their ballots in one party’s primary.
“The officeholders are being recalled separately and luckily for the taxpayers we’ve got this all lined up to happen on the same day,” Government Accountability Board spokesperson Reid Magney said.
Additionally, voters will not have to show a state-issued form of photo identification at the polls to vote Tuesday. Unlike in the February primary elections, certain provisions of the state’s voter ID law, which Walker signed into law last year, will not be in effect after two separate circuit court judges issued injunctions barring the enforcement of the photo ID requirement.
In-person absentee voting ends Friday, but Photo ID cards are also not required to vote absentee. To vote absentee by mail, voters must postmark their ballot by election day.
The new residency standards in the voter ID law, however, will still be in place. To cast a ballot, voters must have lived at their current address for at least 28 days. Previously, voters only needed 10 days to establish residency.
Madison Student Vote Coalition co-founder Hannah Somers said the organization plans to use social media and e-mail in the final days leading up to the primary to inform students of what they need to bring to the polls to vote.
After the primary, Somers said the group will increase its efforts to register students and provide information on absentee ballots for the June 5 general recall elections before the semester ends.
