Voters must choose candidates along party lines in partisan primary
MILWAUKEE -- Voters will take to the polls Tuesday, August 14th for Wisconsin's partisan primary election. Because this is a partisan primary, voters must vote along party lines.
"The ballot is divided into four party sections -- one for each of the four parties that appears. It's the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Constitution Party and Americans Elect," Neil Albrecht, executive director of the City of Milwaukee Election Commission said.
Voters will not be able to vote for a candidate in the Republican U.S. Senate primary race and an Assembly person in the Democratic race -- for example. That's called "cross-party voting," and it's not allowed in Tuesday's partisan primary.
Voters who "cross-party vote" will have their ballot rejected by the voting machines, or the machines will take the ballot -- but not count all of the votes.
Voters Tuesday must select a political party preference and then vote for candidates in that party. The voting machine will then count only the votes from the selected party preference.
Partisan Primaries are not new and have been in effect in Wisconsin since the early 1900s. Election Inspectors, including bilingual staff, are trained and available to provide assistance to any voter with questions on the ballot.
In addition, sample ballots are available and posted on the bulletin boards, and detailed instructions are posted in the voting booths. Voters should keep in mind that they receive three attempts to complete a ballot that is accepted by the voting machine.
Voting sites will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m.
Election officials say for the quickest voting experience, voters should avoid the hours of 7:00 to 8:00 in the morning and 5:00 to 6:30 in the evening.
Absentee voters must have their ballots postmarked by Tuesday and the ballots must be received by Friday, August 17th to be counted.
CLICK HERE for election information via Milwaukee Election Commission's website.
CLICK HERE for election information via Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board's website.