Thank you for your patience today as we work through addressing issues on MyVote. Also thank you for all the incredible, hard work that is happening at each of your polling places today. In dealing with the address service lag/outage we wanted to provide you with a few updates as well as a few resources for fielding voter inquires.
MyVote Address Issue
We are still experiencing issues with the MyVote website’s address service. Voters can still use MyVote to look up their registration record or election information related to today’s election associated with their registered voter record. However, address functionalities such as “What’s on My Ballot” and “Find My Polling Place” are not returning results. We have a message on the MyVote page directing voters to the Voter Information Project which is a service we provide polling place and address data to prior to each election. It is our contingency plan to use this service in the event that MyVote is unavailable. Please direct voters to https://gttp.votinginfoproject.org/ until MyVote address services are back up. We do not have an estimate for when the issue will be resolved but are working closely with our IT team and the team at the Division of Enterprise Technology to resolve the issue. We have put out a press release and social media redirecting voters and voter groups to https://gttp.votinginfoproject.org/ you can find the press release here: https://elections.wi.gov/node/6687 We have also put a message on the MyVote site redirecting voters.
Using the Back Up Look Up Tool
When using the https://gttp.votinginfoproject.org/ back up site, voters will be able to look up their polling place and view a sample ballot. The first step is to enter an address and then press search. The results screen will show information about the voter’s polling place. There is then an additional tab at the top of the screen that says “Ballot Information” if you click here, the voter will see the contests and candidates that will appear on today’s ballot.
Email Template and Holding Statement
I know that clerks also rely on MyVote to assist voters. I am sure many of you are getting calls from voters asking for information about their polling place or sample ballot.
We have drafted the following template email that you can use to respond to voters:
Thank you for contacting [Your Jurisdiction}. We are aware that the MyVote Wisconsin website is currently experiencing delays with searching for your voting information. This website is hosted and maintained by the state of Wisconsin Elections Commission. The State has a backup service which you can use to find your polling place and view a sample ballot https://gttp.votinginfoproject.org/ When visiting the Voting Information Project’s site, you will first enter your address and press search. You will then see a display with your polling place information. There is a second tab at the top of the page that says “Ballot information.” If you click on this, you will see your sample ballot for today’s election. The State of Wisconsin provides official information to this site for use by voters.
If you would prefer, you can also write back and provide us with your Wisconsin address and we would be happy to look up your polling place or sample ballot for you.
Again, we apologize for the delay and ask that you please call or email me or call the Wisconsin Elections Commission at 1-866-VOTE-WIS or email @email if there is any other information we can provide to ensure you are able to participate in today’s election.
We also have a press holding statement you may use if you are asked about the outage. You may also point such inquiries to our office.
The MyVote Wisconsin website is a site developed and maintained by the State of Wisconsin Elections Commission. Currently, the site is experiencing problems with address lookup for polling places. Voters and clerks should use the state’s backup service, https://www.gettothepolls.com/, until the problem is fixed.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission provides official polling place data to Get to the Polls, which is run by the Voting Information Project (VIP), a partnership of Democracy Works and the states to provide official information to voters about where to vote and what’s on their ballots where they look for it most—online. Having Get to the Polls as a backup is part of WEC’s contingency plan. Any questions about the MyVote outage or use of the Get to the Polls backup tool should be directed to the Wisconsin Elections Commission at 608-261-2028 or @email
Thank you again for all you do! We will keep you updated on the site and will work diligently to understand the root cause of this issue and to ensure it does not happen again.