This is an opinion piece by Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann
Something special is happening in Washington County. We’re seeing record breaking in-person absentee numbers, meaning more of our county residents are taking advantage of opportunities to vote early. Washington County is the 10th largest county in terms of population, and we’re currently hanging around 6th highest early vote returns, representing a 165.9% increase.
These numbers aren’t a coincidence, this represents a commitment from our county to expand access to early voting hours, giving our citizens more opportunities to vote. By working with our County Clerk, Ashley Reichert, and the County Board, we were able to pass a comprehensive election integrity package that would help our municipalities expand opportunities for in-person absentee hours.
Understanding that the county can’t mandate additional hours, we wanted to give our clerks the flexibility to offer these hours through municipal grants that fund the staff necessary to give our citizens more opportunities to cast their ballots. Previously in many of our communities, the only opportunity for citizens to vote early was to make an appointment with the clerk. Now, voters have opportunities to show up and vote during designated times convenient for them, meaning they have weeks to vote rather than just 13 hours.
In the first test of this program, it has already been wildly successful, and early-voting isn’t even over yet. Over 28,000 Washington County Voters have already cast their ballots. Our clerks are now offering 300+ additional hours to vote early in-person with 100% of our clerks participating.
For years, more rural and conservative counties have lagged behind our neighbors in Milwaukee and Dane counties in offering early vote opportunities, allowing these urban centers to run up the score prior to Election Day. There is no reason a voter in Washington County shouldn’t have the same opportunities to vote as a voter in Milwaukee County. As conservatives, the fact that this has been the reality for years should not be accepted. We can’t expect to continue winning elections if traditionally liberal counties have 20x the opportunities to vote as our voters in conservative counties.
Other counties can and should do what Washington County has done. By ensuring that funding is not an issue when it comes to people being able to cast their ballots, we’ve opened up doors for our municipalities to give voters more opportunities. Our initial investment into our Election Integrity Package was $150,000, a small percentage of a budget for a county of our size.
In addition to the additional in-person absentee opportunities, this money also funded several other initiatives. We’ve incentivized the elimination of central count. We’ve funded a county-wide election audit counting votes (not just ballots) to ensure accuracy for actual votes cast compared to machine totals. We’ve incentivized voluntary election audits on Election Night by funding 150% grants to cover municipalities actual costs. We funded security cameras for every ballot dropbox in the county.
These reforms not only give our citizens more opportunities to vote, but they give them more confidence in the results of our elections. Washington County wants to ensure that citizens know that when they vote in Washington County, that our elections are carried out securely and transparently. Our investment is worth the confidence our voters can have in our elections.
I sincerely hope that other counties will follow Washington County’s example for future elections. Our republic counts on the privilege we have as Americans to vote. Instead of complaining about Democrats taking advantage of early vote opportunities, we need to match their efforts. So if you haven’t already, get out and vote. Bring a friend, send a neighbor the early vote hours available to them, or make a plan to vote on Election Day. Our republic, state, and communities are counting on you.
