"There are a lot of unknowns:" Voter ID in effect, and there's not much time left before Nov. 4th!

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Election day is coming up quickly! Voters hit the polls on November 4th, and absentee ballots are already in the mail. As clerks in municipalities across the state gear up for the election, they're scrambling to educate poll workers on the voter ID law -- after a three-judge panel in a federal appeals court allowed the law to be reinstated, and thus, voters will need to provide photo ID at the polls in November.

"There are a lot of unknowns, so there is, like I said, some confusion and we're trying to avoid chaos," Milwaukee County Clerk Joseph Czarnezki said.

"I have about 200 poll workers and we'll be calling them in for training and going over photo ID and how to implement the checking of photo ID," Brookfield City Clerk Kelly Michaels said.

Michaels says her poll workers were already trained -- but now that voters will be required to provide photo ID, they'll be calling those workers in to make sure they know the ins and outs of the new photo ID protocol.

"It kind of caught us, not completely off guard, but the time-frame -- I think we have 49 days to implement -- is a little bit short, so there's a lot of work to do between now and election day," Michaels said.

Because absentee ballots are already in the mail, clerks will have to track down absentee voters to let them know they must submit a copy of their photo ID in order for their ballot to be counted.

"Some people have said 'well we're going to be in Florida for the election.' The clerks are, in those instances, having to send two letters because we don't know where these people are. Are they in their Milwaukee County residence at this time or are they in Florida right now? We know they're going to be in Florida for the election, so they're having to mail a letter to both places saying, you know, 'please send us a copy of your photo ID or you will not get your absentee ballot,'" Czarnezki said.

UW campuses will provide free voter ID cards for students for this upcoming election. Students must request the IDs -- and they will also need to provide proof of enrollment when they cast their ballot.

CLICK HERE for information on acceptable forms of ID for voting

CLICK HERE for details on what you need to do if you're voting absentee

CLICK HERE for information from the DOT on getting an ID card for voting

CLICK HERE for information on obtaining a FREE state ID for voting

CLICK HERE for complete coverage on the voter ID issue via FOX6Now.com.