By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
The U.S. Supreme Court on October 26 sided with our state’s legislature, refusing to allow an extension ordered by a federal judge in the deadline for returning mail-in ballots beyond Election Day. The decision, on a 5-3 vote with three liberal justices dissenting, left in place a lower court’s October 8 decision that blocked U.S. District Judge William Conley’s ruling that would have allowed ballots to be counted as long as they were postmarked by November 3 and received by November 9. A group of voters and disability rights groups, joined by state and national Democrats, had sued the Republican-controlled state legislature in an attempt to get the deadline for the receipt of mail-in ballots extended in view of delays in mail delivery in the midst of the pandemic. Ballots must be received before 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3 in order to be counted.
Although the deadline to request an absentee ballot is Thursday, October 29 at 5:00 p.m., ballots requested that late are unlikely to arrive in time for a voter to receive the ballot in the mail and return it by mail to be received by November 3. If you have requested a City of Whitewater absentee ballot but have not yet received it, you may wish to contact the office of the City Clerk at 262-473-0102.
If you have already received an absentee ballot, and plan to return it by mail, you are encouraged to do so as soon as possible. Absentee ballots may be returned, 24/7, to the secure ballot box in the 312 W. Whitewater Street entrance to the Municipal Building. That box is emptied every weekday, and will be checked for a final time in the afternoon of November 3. Absentee ballots may also be delivered to your polling place on November 3 before 8 p.m. Wards 1,2,3,4,5,6,10 and 11 will vote at the Downtown Armory, 146 W. North Street. Wards 7,8,9,13 and 12 will vote in the Kachel Field House on the UWW campus, 907 W. Schwager Drive.
In-person absentee voting at the Municipal Building continues on the following days. There has normally been little or no waiting:
Tuesday, October 27 9am -5pm
Wednesday, October 28 1pm -5pm
Thursday, October 29 1pm -5pm
Friday, October 30 9am -5pm
