County Ballot Delivery
This is a reminder that counties must deliver ballots to their municipalities no later than the end of the day on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 for the August 9 Partisan Primary. This is to ensure that municipalities have sufficient time to fulfill any absentee ballot requests beginning on June 23, 2022, the state deadline for responding to any such requests on file. We ask that counties please report to the WEC when ballots have been distributed to their municipalities by emailing @email. WEC will follow up with counties who have not confirmed. If a county anticipates any issues with meeting the deadline for distribution, we ask that the county please contact WEC as soon as possible and we can work with the county to ensure municipalities have an option to fulfill requests by the deadline.
Upcoming Ballot Deadlines for Military and Overseas Voters
State law requires that municipalities send absentee ballots to their military and overseas electors with requests on file in accordance with the deadlines set forth below. This deadline requires clerks to send all military and overseas voters with an absentee request on file a Partisan Primary ballot by June 23, 2022 (47 days prior to the election). For this election, the federal deadline follows shortly after on June 25, 2022 (45 days prior to the election).
It is our belief that local election officials should focus on meeting the June 23 ballot delivery deadline for military and overseas voters. Clerks should then make their best effort to comply with Wis. Stat. 7.15(1)(cm) which states that all voters with a valid request on file should be sent a ballot by the 47th day prior to a general election.
Military, Temporary Overseas and Permanent Overseas voters may request to receive their ballot via email or fax and clerks are required to honor those requests. Military and Permanent Overseas voters may also request to receive their ballot online via the MyVote Wisconsin website (myvote.wi.gov). Any requests received after the federal deadline on Saturday, June 25, 2022, must be honored within 24 hours and the ballot must be sent by the method requested by the voter.
This is an important change to note, which in most cases eliminates the need to monitor absentee ballot requests on June 25. The U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) has agreed that, for those clerks who do not normally have office hours on Saturday, the requests that come in after the close of business (4:30 p.m.) on Friday, June 24 or on Saturday, June 25, may be responded to on Monday, June 27 and still be considered timely.
Reminder of Change Related to Temporary Overseas Electors
Temporary Overseas electors are entitled to the same protections as other types of UOCAVA voters, such as permanently overseas and military electors. This means that they have the right to receive an absentee ballot electronically and they may also use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) to cast their votes. This will not affect the current statutory distinction which allows temporary overseas electors to vote for all offices while restricting permanent overseas electors to vote only in contests for federal offices. For purposes of UOCAVA, “overseas” means “outside the United States.” This change regarding Temporary Overseas voters was first effective with the August 14, 2018 Partisan Primary as communicated in a Clerk Communication dated June 13, 2018.
Please note that in order to see all military or overseas voters in WisVote, it is now a one-step process.
1. Once you are in the election, click Run Report; select "UOCAVA Absentee Ballot..." from the dropdown.
Remember, absentee ballot requests may be received from military, permanent overseas or temporary overseas electors through a MyVote.wi.gov email notification. Please read all MyVote notifications thoroughly to see if you need to mail, fax or email a ballot to a UOCAVA voter. If a military or permanent overseas elector asks to receive the ballot “online” (see Ballot Delivery Method NOT Application Source) then the elector will access the ballot on MyVote and the clerk does not need to send the ballot. If the elector asks to receive the ballot by mail, email or fax, the ballot must be transmitted by the method requested. Please note that temporary overseas electors may not receive ballots through MyVote because they must submit photo identification to the municipal clerk before receiving a ballot.
Resources to Assist You
WEC has created a few new resources to assist you with navigating the processes for military and overseas voters. The first is the Military and Overseas Voter Manual. It will walk you through all of the steps and requirements for assisting these voters and includes the updated instructions for checking WisVote for compliance. The new process is much simpler, and you will only have to do one search as opposed to the two you used in the past.
The second is an informational video, titled “Uniformed & Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act – UOCAVA”, that can be found on the Learning Center and our Vimeo channel. We are also offering a live webinar on June 08 at 10am called “UOCAVA and You” where you can get any questions answered in real time. You can access that webinar through the EA Webinar Series tile in TLC.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. We know that you take very seriously your role in ensuring that military and overseas electors are able to cast their ballots. We feel confident that with your cooperation all UOCAVA voters from Wisconsin will receive their ballot on or before the deadlines for the August 9 Partisan Primary that we will be able to promptly submit the required absentee ballot data to the US DOJ.
If you have any questions, or anticipate any problems with meeting the UOCAVA absentee ballot deadlines, please contact the WEC Help Desk at @email