WEC county files show larger declines in Dane and Milwaukee counties; WOW Counties decline smaller

Wisconsin voters had submitted 329,449 applications for mail absentee ballots as of Oct. 5, down 71,331 from the same point in the 2022 election cycle, according to Wisconsin Elections Commission county data.

That is a 17.8% decline from the 400,780 applications reported at the comparable point four years ago.

The comparison uses WEC county-level absentee files from Oct. 5, 2026, and Oct. 10, 2022. Both dates were four weeks before Election Day. Wisconsin’s general election is Nov. 3 this year. The 2022 election was Nov. 8.

The decline is larger in Dane and Milwaukee counties.

Dane County had 48,183 absentee applications as of Oct. 5, compared with 63,342 at the same point in 2022. That is a drop of 15,159 applications, or 23.9%.

Milwaukee County declined from 68,752 applications to 53,930, a decrease of 14,822, or 21.6%.

Together, Dane and Milwaukee counties account for 29,981 of the 71,331 fewer applications statewide, about 42% of the total decline.

Returns for the so-called WOW Counties are also is running behind its 2022 pace, though their decline is smaller than those in Dane and Milwaukee.

WEC’s Oct. 10, 2022, county file lists 34,243 absentee applications in Waukesha County. The Oct. 5, 2026, file lists 29,198. That is a decrease of 5,045 applications, or 14.7%.

Washington County is down 15.2%, while Ozaukee County is down 15.3%.

The numbers show that the drop in mail absentee applications is not confined to one part of Wisconsin. But the declines in Dane and Milwaukee counties are both larger than the statewide rate, while the decrease in each of the WOW Counties is smaller.

The figures also do not indicate how the voters requesting absentee ballots intend to vote. Wisconsin does not register voters by political party, and the Elections Commission says its voter data do not contain party preference information. 

Nor are absentee applications the same thing as votes cast.

Wisconsin voters may request a mail absentee ballot for any reason. For most voters, the deadline to request one for the Nov. 3 election is 5 p.m. Oct. 29. In-person absentee voting can begin Oct. 20 and may continue through Nov. 1, depending on the municipality. Absentee ballots must reach the municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. 

That means the Oct. 5 totals are a snapshot of mail absentee demand four weeks before the election, not a prediction of final turnout.

There is also a reason to compare the same type of WEC file from one election to the next.

For example, WEC’s Oct. 10, 2022, county file reports 34,243 absentee applications for Waukesha County. Adding the individual municipal rows for Waukesha County from that day produces 33,644, a difference of 599.

Dairyland Sentinel used the WEC county file for all county-level comparisons rather than mixing county totals with municipal rollups.

The Elections Commission has cautioned that Wisconsin’s highly decentralized election system relies on information entered by local election officials and that some residual data errors can occur despite quality-control efforts. 

The statewide trend, however, is substantial. Wisconsin had 71,331 fewer mail absentee applications at this point than it did four years ago, with Dane and Milwaukee counties alone accounting for more than two-fifths of that decline.

Dairyland Sentinel will continue tracking WEC absentee data through Election Day, including changes after in-person absentee voting begins Oct. 20.