Two major early-voting sites in Milwaukee — one of Wisconsin’s largest Democratic strongholds — have been cut, as the city preempts any legal action from state Republicans.
On Tuesday, the city announced that Miller Park and the Fiserv Forum, home to the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks, respectively, will no longer be used for early voting.
The city’s decision was a small victory for the Wisconsin GOP, which has been focused on shutting down these high-profile early voting locations. Milwaukee is one of Wisconsin’s largest Democratic strongholds; President Donald Trump benefitted from depressed turnout in the city in 2016.
“Unfortunately, the addition of these two sites could be legally challenged due to a recent court ruling, and we don’t want to do anything that could risk a City of Milwaukee voter’s ballot being counted,” Claire Woodall-Vogg, the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said in a statement Tuesday. “We want residents of Milwaukee to feel complete and unwavering confidence that their ballot will be counted in the election and this action reflects that commitment.”
Woodall-Vogg was referring to a federal court ruling in September which extended the deadline for absentee ballots to be counted to Nov. 9, six days past Election Day. That decision also reaffirmed that early voting locations for November had to be determined by June 11.
City officials first announced Fiserv Forum and Miller Park as early voting sites in late August — after the deadline — saying the addition of the two sites would allow for voters to more safely cast their ballots during the pandemic. They failed to win an extension beyond June in the courts.
Wisconsin Republicans had already been threatening legal action around those two early voting sites. The party sent Woodall-Vogg a letter last week claiming that the presence of any Bucks or Brewers players or mascots at the two sporting venues — including the giant racing sausages — would constitute as electioneering, because it would encourage voting.
Woodall-Vogg, who brushed off the letter and pointed out that the racing sausages were non-partisan, said those concerns didn’t play a roll in the city’s decision to cut the two voting locations.
But, she said, Republican rhetoric around absentee ballots, including that of Trump, had been concerning enough. Early voting in Wisconsin is technically considered in-person absentee voting.
“As rhetoric continues across the nation talking about challenging the validity of absentee ballots, it was extremely important to me that I make decisions that will protect City of Milwaukee voters and ensure that we are taking every measure to protect their ballots,” Woodall-Vogg told HuffPost. “I was concerned that these ballots could be challenged after they were cast, which could leave voters who used these sites completely voiceless if successfully challenged.”
Milwaukee will have 13 in-person voting sites open as of Oct. 20, when Wisconsin begins early voting. Republicans are continuing to fight the court’s extension of the absentee ballot deadline; the case is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.