Absentee ballots in Wisconsin lag presidential pace of 2016

Maybe don’t believe the hype about the fervor to cast absentee ballots in Wisconsin.

With two weeks to go before what’s seen as a critical congressional midterm election, voters aren’t exactly storming the municipal clerks’ offices to cast ballots around the state.

It’s not likely absentee ballots cast before Nov. 6 will exceed the number cast in the last national election.

About 270,000 absentee ballots have been requested in the state. Just about 172,000 have been returned.

The numbers were 40 percent higher two years ago, though every presidential election has a much higher voter turnout — an election for which 27 percent of voters cast a ballot absentee.

So far in La Crosse County, about 5,700 absentee ballots have been requested. Two years ago that number was closer to 9,400.

The state only started to track daily absentee voter ballot totals since 2016.