Beating the election day rush: Final day of early voting brings hundreds out to cast ballots

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It is the last day to vote early. According to the Government Accountability Board, early voting season is on track to surpass the 2010 election, and the 2012 recall. For the 2010 election in Milwaukee, there were 6,800 early voters. The election commission says this year they expect 14-15,000 early voters with Friday being the busiest day they've seen. Even on the blustery cold day, hundreds of people are hoping to beat the election day rush and vote early. Thursday, October 30th, was the busiest day for early voters in Milwaukee when over 2,000 people cast their ballots, but Friday is on track to beat that. "Today I think we'll probably see anywhere from 2,500 - 3,000," said Neil Albrecht, Milwaukee Election Commissioner. As of Friday afternoon, more than 240,000 absentee ballots have been cast statewide. Of those, just over 173,000 early votes were cast in the clerk's offices and there were more than 66,000 ballots cast by mail. That's more than in the 2010 elections and during the 2012 recall. "We have some very close races on the ballots, some very high profile contests a lot of candidate promotion -- that always increases voter participation," said Albrecht. At the Zeidler Municipal building, there are two places to vote, on Market Street for those who've already registered -- and on Broadway, for those who still need to register. "Very organized, very well run, very very official, very nice. Nice experience, easy, in and out," said Janine Hunter & Tracy Buckland, early voters. Both Hunter and Buckland have to work on Tuesday, so Friday was their day to have their voices heard. "I want to see the city run right, I want to see Wisconsin run right," said Hunter & Buckland. Buckland and Hunter say the whole experience took about 10 minutes, Amanda Avalos agrees. "It was really fast so that was nice to see and it's nice to see that it's busy and there are a lot of people here," said Avalos. Avalos votes every election but this time she voted early. "I work on Tuesday and I know my day is going to be a little bit more hectic and I was downtown anyways, so might as well," said Avalos. That was the sentiment that many shared, they want to beat the rush.