'Every election counts': As of Nov. 1, 3.5 million are registered to vote, says WEC

NOW: ’Every election counts’: As of Nov. 1, 3.5 million are registered to vote, says WEC
NEXT:

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Election Day is just three days away and according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), as of Nov. 1, 3.5 million Wisconsinites are registered to vote. 

According to the city of Milwaukee, just over 26,000 residents had voted early as of Nov. 4. 

Mordecai Lee, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus, said although presidential elections typically have a higher turnout compared to gubernatorial elections, he believes on Tuesday we will see more votes cast "than ever before".

"I'm guessing that what the statistics are now, are an indication of a wave of voters higher than we've ever seen in a governor's election," Lee said. "If you go back to the last three gubernatorial elections, every time, a greater percentage of the electorate is voting. That means a greater raw number of voters have been voting."

One of the reasons?

"I think what we're seeing is that Wisconsinites have discovered early voting," Lee said, calling the discovery a "revelation".

Lee noted that when it comes to early voting trends, it doesn't matter what someone's political affiliation is. Instead, he believes Wisconsinites as a whole are discovering the importance of gubernatorial races.

"The sense of identity that people get from their partisan affiliation is so much stronger now than it was a generation ago," Lee said. "I think we're going to be astonished on Tuesday by the total number of people who vote," Lee said. 

The deadline to register to vote online has passed, but you can still register to vote in person at your polling place on Nov. 8. 

Share this article: