Spring Primary Election

Voters go to the polls between 7 am-8 pm, 2/16. For current polling places/ballot info: cityofmadison.com/clerk or clerk.countyofdane.com. 608-266-4601.

More info from the Madison City Clerk's Office:

Find out what's on your ballot at My Vote Wisconsin .

media release: The City of Madison Clerk’s Office put together a top five list of things to know for tomorrow’s Spring Primary.

1. Some polling places have changed since last year. To verify your polling location, visit www.cityofmadison.com/WhereDoIVote.
2. The address on the ID you use for voting does not matter. When checking your photo ID, election officials are only verifying your identity. They are not checking the address on your ID. Just make sure you have an acceptable ID for voting in Wisconsin.
3. You can register to vote at the polls. If you are registering to vote or updating your voter registration, you will need to show the election officials proof of residence. Your proof of residence document may be shown in an electronic format, e.g., your online utility bill, bank statement, City of Madison assessment, or My UW account.
4. Your absentee ballot must be returned by Election Day in order to be counted. Election officials at your polling place will insert your absentee ballot into the tabulator to be counted. If you haven’t mailed your ballot back to the Clerk’s Office yet, you might want to ask a friend or neighbor to take your absentee envelope to your polling place on Tuesday. You can track the status of your absentee ballot by looking up your name at https://MyVote.wi.gov .
5. Make sure your ballot lists the correct primary races. All voters will see the primary race for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Voters who live in Dane County Board of Supervisors District 12 will see a primary race for that seat. Voters who live in City of Madison Aldermanic Districts 9, 16, or 18 will see that primary on their ballot. The Middleton/Cross Plains Area School District has a school board primary, so voters in that school district will see that race, too. We intend to give you the correct ballot. If we mistakenly hand you an incorrect ballot, please tell an election official before you insert your ballot into the tabulator to be counted. You can view the sample ballot for your address on the MyVote Wisconsin website .

Do not hesitate to contact the Clerk’s Office. If you have a question or encounter a problem at your polling place, please let us know right away by calling (608) 266-4601. 

The city of Madison’s secure ballot drop boxes will be opened Jan. 26 for the Feb. 16 Spring Primary. The boxes provide a secure way for city of Madison absentee voters to return their ballots to the City Clerk’s Office.

If you requested an absentee ballot for the Feb. 16, 2021, election, you should see it in your mailbox in the next few days. Follow the instructions included with your absentee ballot to make sure your ballot is counted.

Once you vote your ballot and seal it in the completed certificate envelope, you can drop it in the secure drop box closest to you. You also have the option of returning it by mail or dropping it off in person at the City Clerk’s Office, at an in-person absentee voting site when they open Feb. 2, or at your polling place on Election Day.

The City Clerk’s Office has a secure procedure for the retrieval of ballots from the 14 drop boxes located at 13 city fire stations and Elver Park.

• Two sworn election officials retrieve the ballots from their assigned location.
• Election officials secure the ballots in a ballot bag with a tamper-evident seal. The seal number is written on the chain of custody form.
• By completing and signing the chain of custody, the election officials affirm the following (which is printed on the chain of custody form):

We understand that we would be subject to applicable civil or criminal penalties if he/she failed to comply with State Statute 12.13. Under this State Statute, “No person may...Willfully or negligently fail to deliver, after having undertaken to do so, official ballots prepared for an election to the proper person, or prevent their delivery within the required time, or destroy or conceal the ballots.”

• The election official teams will collect ballots each day Jan. 26 – Feb. 14 between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm.
• On Feb. 15, teams will begin collecting ballots from the drop boxes at 5:00pm. Once they have gathered all the ballots from a box, they will close and lock the drop box slots.
• Once teams have retrieved ballots from their assigned locations they will return to the Clerk’s Office immediately with the ballots. Clerk’s Office staff will confirm the information on the chain of custody form.

The full list of ballot drop box locations is below.

• Fire Station 1: 316 W Dayton St. Box is located just east of the main driveway.
• Fire Station 2: 421 Grand Canyon Dr. Box is located on west side of Grand Teton Pkwy before the station’s back driveway.
• Fire Station 3: 1217 Williamson St. Box is located in small garden just outside station front door. Walk-up traffic only.
• Fire Station 4: 1437 Monroe St. Box is located just east of driveway right across from the badger at Camp Randall. Just beneath the Madison: Solar America City sign.
• Fire Station 5: 4418 Cottage Grove Road. Box is located on Atlas Ave between the bus stop and the station’s back driveway.
• Fire Station 6: 825 W Badger Road. Box is located behind station on west side of Perry St just south of Madison College driveway.
• Fire Station 8: 3945 Lien Road. Box is located east of station on east side of Parkside Dr.
• Fire Station 9: 201 N Midvale Blvd. Box is located behind station on west side of Meadow Ln.
• Fire Station 10: 1517 Troy Dr. Box is located on north side of station near the intersection of Troy Dr and Hanover St.
• Fire Station 11: 4011 Morgan Way. Box is located behind station on east side of Crossing Pl between station driveway and intersection of Crossing Pl and Nelson Rd.
• Fire Station 12: 400 South Point Rd. Box is located just north of station on South Point Rd near intersection of South Point Rd and Briar Haven Dr.
• Fire Station 13: 6350 Town Center Dr. Box is located just east of station driveway on north side of Town Center Dr.
• Fire Station 14: 3201 Dairy Dr. Box is located just north of station driveway near intersection of Dairy Dr and Prairie Dock Dr.
• Elver Park Shelter: 1250 McKenna Blvd. Box is located in island of the circle drive near the park shelter.

For the February 16, 2021, Spring Primary, Madison will offer In-Person Absentee Voting February 2 - 13 (no voter registration on February 13, though, per state law).

For the April 6, 2021, Spring Election, we will offer In-Person Absentee Voting March 23 - April 4 (no voter registration on April 3 or 4, though, per state law).

In June of 2020, we looked at the data from April pdf  and conducted a Pandemic Voting Access Equity Analysis pdf .  In-person absentee voting sites were established based on that analysis.

We will be following the the advice of Public Health when it comes to COVID-19 safety precautions. Due to capacity restraints, you may need to wait for a voter to exit the absentee voting site before you can enter.

In-Person Absentee Procedure

1. You are welcome to use your own blue or black ballpoint pen.
2. The absentee clerk will give you an absentee envelope to fill out with your name, address, and date of birth. 
3. The absentee clerk will need to check your voter ID.  Rather than handling your ID, they will ask you to hold up the ID for them to see.
4. Because we have dozens of ballot styles citywide, we use the ExpressVote accessible voting device for in-person absentee voting. This device offers a touchscreen with large print and high contrast, a braille keypad, compatibility with Sip & Puff devices, and Spanish translation. The ExpressVote marks the voter's selections on a ballot card after the voter reviews and approves the selections. Once the ballot card is printed, voters may feed the card back into the ExpressVote to again review their selections.
5. Once you print your ballot card, you will fold it in half and seal it in the absentee envelope.
6. You will sign your envelope in the presence of the absentee clerk.  The absentee clerk will sign as your witness.
7. At the end of the voting shift for the day, your absentee will be brought to the Clerk's Office in a courier bag with a tamper-evident seal.  The unique serial number on the tamper-evident seal is documented on a chain-of-custody form, as is the number of absentee envelopes sealed in the courier bag.
8. The Clerk's Office will verify the serial number on the tamper-evident seal, and will verify the number of absentee envelopes sealed inside the courier bag.
9. Your absentee will remain sealed in its envelope and secure in the Clerk's Office until it is delivered to your polling place to be processed on Election Day.
10. On Election Day, the poll workers at your polling place will check your envelope into the poll book, and will feed your ballot into the tabulator to be counted.

How to Register: Registration is open until 5:00 pm 20 days before an election. Wisconsin requires 28 days to establish residency at a new address. Temporary absence does not affect residency. Time spent away from your residence still counts toward the 28 day residency requirement as long as you intend to return. When registering, you must present Proof of Residence, a document showing your current name at your current address. You cannot register to vote at a post office box. View acceptable forms of Proof of Residence.

Online: You may register to vote at My Vote Wisconsin if you have a valid, unexpired Wisconsin driver license or Wisconsin ID, and your address on file with the DMV matches the address at which you are registering to vote. If the DMV does not have your current address on file, update your address on the DMV website before updating your voter registration at My Vote Wisconsin .

In person: During open registration, City of Madison residents may register to vote in the City Clerk’s Office during normal business hours, or at the front desk of any City of Madison agency (as long as that agency is not closed due to COVID-19).

Mail (only allowable up to 20 days before an election)

Registration forms are available on the Wisconsin Elections Commission website in English pdf , Spanish pdf , and Hmong pdf . To register to vote by mail, download and print the application above and mail the form to the City Clerk's office. The registration form must be postmarked at least 20 days before the election. You will need to include Proof of Residence with the form.

Mail application to:

City Clerk's Office

210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Room 103

Madison, WI 53703

Military Voters: Members of the military are not required to register to vote, but must complete forms to vote absentee. Military and overseas voters may download their absentee ballots online. Learn more about how to vote absentee.

Overseas Voters: Voters who have moved overseas with no intent to return to live in the United States may continue voting for federal offices from their last Wisconsin address. These voters may register and request absentee ballots using the Federal Postcard Application . Voters who are permanently living overseas do not need to send proof of residence with their voter registration.

Homeless Voters: Homeless voters pdf who do not have a traditional street address may register to vote using the map on the registration form to indicate a location they return to on a regular basis. They may use a letter pdf from a social service agency (public or private) as proof of residence.

Felony Convictions: An individual convicted of a felony pdf may register to vote after completing the terms of the felony sentence, including probation or parole.

Register during Closed Registration: Once registration closes at 5:00 pm 20 days before an election, you may only register to vote in the City Clerk’s Office or other city of Madison in-person absentee voting site (during absentee voting hours) with proof of address, until the close of absentee voting at that site the Friday before the election.

Registering prior to Election Day is highly recommended to avoid long lines. However, it is possible to register at the polls on Election Day.