GREEN BAY — Election preparations are already underway as early absentee voting began last week. On Monday, Green Bay city officials tested out the voting tabulation machines that will count the vote at central count on election night.
In the coming days Green Bay and several other towns all across Brown County will undergo testing of the voting machines at polling locations.
Green Bay city clerk Celestine Jeffreys says that despite many ballots already coming in via mail or in person absentee voting, the city is not allowed to get a head start on counting votes before election day.
"All ballots in the state of Wisconsin get counted on election day," said Jeffreys.
As early results are reported after the polls close, Jeffreys said there is no type of ballot that gets counted before others.
"The way that we received an absentee ballot, we don't separate those. We just count them by ward and then alphabetize them," said Jeffreys.
On election night there will be two different types of machines to help process the ballots. At each polling station, a machine will process each individual ballot.
Jeffreys said that these machines at the polling locations are easier for voters and poll workers to operate than the two machines at central count that are high speed ballot processors.
Jeffreys also said that mail in absentee ballots must be returned to the city clerks office in Green Bay by 8:00 P.M. on election night. She said that those who do bring those ballots to their polling location will be turned away.
To ensure the safety of election materials, Jeffreys said that the city currently has about 420 commitments for poll workers.
For safety at the polling locations, the city and Brown County rely on poll workers and inspectors to report any suspicious activity or behavior. If any behavior is reported, the Green Bay police say they'll be ready to respond.
