Surge in absentee voting reported ahead of Tuesday's Wisconsin partisan primary

Don Behm | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Absentee voting ahead of Tuesday's election is outpacing early voting counts from other partisan primaries in recent years, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Monday.

A total of 98,568 absentee ballots had been cast statewide and reported to the commission as of Monday morning, spokesman Reid Magney said.

Early votes in just two counties — Dane with 16,796 and Milwaukee with 16,109 — account for more than one-third, or 33.38 percent of the preliminary tally. Waukesha County reported 10,163 absentee ballots.

The statewide number is nearly 13.5 percent larger than the final tally of 86,862 absentee ballots cast in the 2016 partisan primary, according to the commission. A total of 65,525 absentee ballots were cast for the general election primary in 2014, and 84,830 in 2012.

The popularity of absentee voting has been growing in recent years as candidates and special interest groups encourage more people to vote early, Magney said.

The heavy early turnout likely is an indicator of the broad public interest in Tuesday's partisan primary races featuring crowded fields for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator and the Democratic nomination for governor.

In-person absentee voting at the offices of municipal clerks ended Friday statewide except for Milwaukee and Madison where clerks held Saturday hours to encourage citizens to turnout.

An average of 15 percent of the state's voting age population has turned out for partisan primaries in the past 10 years, from a low of nearly 9 percent in 2008 to a high of nearly 20 percent in 2010, according to the Wisconsin Election Commission.

RELATED: In partisan primaries, there's no crossover between parties on ballot. Here's what you need know about Aug. 14 election.

VOTER GUIDE: Read everything you need to know about Tuesday's primary.