Early voting starts this week

Early voting starts Tuesday on campus for the April 5 spring election, with local, school board and judicial races to be decided.

In-person absentee voting and voter registration for Madison residents will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Tuesday, March 22 to Friday, April 1 (except weekends) at Memorial Union and Union South, as well as other Madison locations.

In addition, The Associated Students of Madison Spring 2022 Elections will take place March 28 – 30, 2022. The ASM Student Council is comprised of 33 elected representatives and is chiefly responsible for exercising the legislative powers and duties of shared governance of the university.

“The spring elections in Wisconsin and for ASM give students the opportunity to elect people to local offices that affect their daily lives on campus and in Madison,” said Barry Burden, political science professor and faculty chair of BadgersVote, a campus-wide initiative that aims to provide UW–Madison students with everything they need to participate in elections.

Later this year, a partisan primary will be Aug. 9, and a general midterm election on Nov. 8, to elect Wisconsin’s governor, a U.S. senator, U.S. representatives and other offices.

Students who are U.S. citizens can choose whether to vote at their Madison address or home address. If your home address is in Wisconsin, check here to see what’s on the ballot in the spring primary. If your home address isn’t in Wisconsin, check Campus Vote Project for election dates and other voting information.

You can check if you’re properly registered to vote, and register online, at My Vote Wisconsin. You can also register to vote in person in the Madison City Clerk’s office.

You can also create your personalized plan to register and vote through the BadgersVote interactive voting tool at go.wisc.edu/StepsToVoteUW

Here are a few important things to know about voting in Wisconsin:

• You must be eligible to vote.
• You must be registered. If you’ve moved to a new address, you need to re-register.
• You need proper ID. Your Wiscard is not valid for voting purposes. Acceptable forms of identification include a valid Wisconsin driver’s license, Wisconsin state ID, U.S. passport, U.S. Uniformed Services card, Veterans Affairs ID, tribal ID or Certificate of Naturalization. The address on your ID does not matter; the purpose of presenting your ID at the polls is to prove your identity. If you don’t have those forms of ID, enrolled students who have obtained a Wiscard can get a voter-compliant ID at the Wiscard Office. Present it at the polls together with a Voter Enrollment Verification Letter.
• On Election Day you must vote at your assigned polling place.

There are many more ways for you to be involved. To learn more, reach out to the Morgridge Center for Public Service, ASM student government or the Wisconsin Union Directorate Society and Politics.