WKOW: Rock County clerks prepare for Election Day absentee ballot sprint

JT Cestkowski of WKOW reports on how Rock County, Wisconsin is preparing to manage counting and receiving absentee ballots.

The city of Janesville has already sent out more than 7,000 absentee ballots this election season. In total, Clerk-Treasurer Lori Stottler expects the city to issue between 12,000 and 20,000 absentee ballots, depending on demand.

The figure is much lower than the last presidential election when the city issued around 28,000 absentee ballots at the height of the pandemic. But opening, unfolding, smoothing, checking and then counting five figures worth of ballots will take time.

State law bars Janesville and clerks in communities across the state from getting a head start on the work. They cannot begin to canvass the votes until Election Day. The law means clerks must handle hundreds or thousands of pieces of paper within a single day to try and deliver all of the election results in a timely manner without sacrificing accuracy.

Read more at WKOW.