Recently, there have been false claims alleging that Wisconsin has 8 million registered voters, far more than Wisconsin’s estimated voting age population in 2024 of around 4.7 million.
The truth is that the number of active registered voters in Wisconsin fluctuates daily as people register or as they are moved from the active list to the inactive list by their municipal clerks, typically ranging between 3.4 million to 3.7 million registrants.
Only active registered voters appear on the poll book and are eligible to receive a ballot, either in-person or by absentee ballot.
On Nov. 1, 2024, there were about 3.65 million active registered voters in Wisconsin. The number continues to fluctuate as new individuals register or are deactivated in the state of Wisconsin, and as clerks work to enter Election Day registrations into the system.
In addition to the active registered list, there is an inactive list with about 4.3 million records. People are made inactive when they die, move and register in another state, are convicted of a felony, are adjudicated incompetent to vote, or are made inactive through statutory voter list maintenance processes (aka “purging). If you are on the list as inactive, that means you are not eligible to vote unless you reregister to vote, which includes providing a proof-of-residence document that establishes where you live in Wisconsin (and where you vote).
Wisconsin does not delete voter records. This means the total number of people on the inactive list will continue to grow over time, as additional voter records are created and deactivated through people’s lifespans.
The retention of historical data helps to safeguard against abuse of the system. If inactive records were destroyed, the State of Wisconsin would have no voting history. There would be no registration history, no participation history, and most importantly, no history of why a record became inactive. The voter registration database is the means for election officials to track deaths; to track felons; and to otherwise track any reason for ineligibility. If ineligible records are destroyed, election officials would lose their only mechanism to verify these conditions.
Wisconsin keeps track of its voters in a statewide voter registration database. The database system is provided and maintained by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and the voter records are managed by the state’s approximately 1,850 municipal clerks. The entire number of people in the statewide voter registration database is approaching 8 million, which includes 4.3 million inactive voters.
Using a variety of data sources, local clerks regularly maintain voter records in their jurisdiction, deactivating any active records that become disqualified, such as if a voter dies, is convicted of a felony, or moves out of the jurisdiction.