Fall Election
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Bob Koch
A sign pointing the direction to the polling place at Warner Park Community Recreation Center.
A sign pointing the direction to a polling place.
Voters go to the polls between 7 am-8 pm, 11/3. For polling places/ballot info: cityofmadison.com/clerk or clerk.countyofdane.com. 608-266-4601.
From the city of Madison: The Clerk's Office has begun mailing absentee ballots for the November 3, 2026 election. If you plan to vote by mail, you can request your ballot through MyVote WI. Follow the prompts to request your absentee ballot. If the Clerk's Office does not have your voter ID on file, the site will ask you to upload one.
After you request your absentee ballot, check MyVote WI in the coming days to see when your ballot was mailed and where it is in transit.
When your ballot arrives, vote in the presence of an adult witness. Place the ballot in the return envelope and sign. Have your witness sign and provide their name and address.
Return your ballot either by mail or at one of the secure designated locations across the city. Drop boxes are now open.
While in the past, drop boxes had only been available for a few weeks before Election Day, the Clerk's Office is pleased to now provide this service to voters for the full election period. Absentee voters may return their completed ballots to any of the 14 boxes located around the city.
If you requested an absentee ballot, it should arrive in the coming days. Closely follow the instructions enclosed with your ballot to ensure it is counted. After voting, seal your ballot in the certificate envelope and make sure all required fields are complete: voter signature, witness signature, witness name, and witness address.
Two sworn election officials regularly retrieve ballots from the drop boxes. The ballots are sealed in a container with a tamper-evident seal and documented on a chain-of-custody form. Drop box ballots are delivered to the Clerk's Office where staff verify documentation and sort ballots for processing on Election Day.
Voters with disabilities may have help returning their ballot from a person of their choice. The assistant can be any individual except the voter's employer, their union representative, or a candidate on the ballot.
After returning your absentee ballot, check MyVote WI to confirm it has been received.
The Clerk's Office sends all absentee ballots to the polls to be counted on Election Day.
From the Wisconsin Elections Commission:
As Election Day approaches on November 3, a wave of voter registration and absentee ballot mailings from third parties have begun arriving in Wisconsin residents’ mailboxes.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission advises voters that their best sources of information about voter registration and absentee voting are their local clerks and the state’s official MyVote.wi.gov website, not mailings from third parties, political parties or other voter advocacy groups.
As in previous election years, the WEC and municipal clerks around the state have started receiving questions and complaints about recent mailings on voter registration and absentee voting because they contain messages, and often errors, about a voter or the voting process, said Meagan Wolfe, Administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
“Ahead of major elections, voters frequently contact us with concerns about unsolicited election mailers,” Wolfe noted. “We encourage voters to scrutinize these materials carefully. We strongly advise voters to rely directly on trusted sources. For accurate and official election information, residents should visit MyVote.wi.gov or consult with their local municipal or county clerk.”
Third-party mailings also sometimes make registered voters think they are not registered to vote. In recent days, the Commission has begun receiving questions about mailings from Civitech and the Voter Participation Center. Some third-party groups are also sending pre-filled absentee ballot applications to voters.
None of these groups are sending materials on our behalf and the Elections Commission does not have any statutory authority over these groups or what they send. Any mailing or letter coming from the Wisconsin Elections Commission will be clearly identified as coming from our agency, including our official letterhead, logo, and/or the state seal. It will also include the Official Election Mail logo from the US Postal Service.
Voters who need to register, change their address, or request an absentee ballot should visit MyVote.wi.gov, Wisconsin’s secure voter services website. Voters who need to register for the first time, or need to update their voter record, are strongly encouraged to do so as soon as possible and not wait until Election Day.
“Voters can spend just a few minutes online at MyVote.WI.gov and see whether their registration is current and request an absentee ballot if they want to vote by-mail,” Wolfe said.
Using MyVote.wi.gov, people can fill out the registration form online and send it to the correct clerk’s address which the website will provide. Voters registering by mail must also send a copy of a proof-of-residence document, such as a driver’s license, utility bill or bank statement with the voter’s current address.
Key Takeaways:
- Check Wisconsin’s official voter registration portal at MyVote.wi.gov to check your registration status, find your municipal clerk, request an absentee ballot and more.
- You only need to update your registration if you have recently moved or changed your name since participating in the last election, or if you have not voted in four or more years
- Look for the WEC Official Election Mail logo on mailers to confirm authenticity: elections.wi.gov/voters/voter-information-center/voter-correspondence-mailings#4257225834-2457495682
