November Ballot Carries 37 Separate Decisions; City Advises Voters To 'Plan Extra Time'

WAUKESHA — The ballot Waukesha voters will face on Nov. 3 contains 37 separate decisions, according to a count released this week by the Waukesha City Clerk's Office, and city officials are now advising residents to treat the voting booth less like a quick errand and more like a seated meal.

City Clerk Patricia Oertel's office issued guidance Tuesday asking voters to budget 15 to 20 minutes once inside the booth and to arrive at their polling place at least 45 minutes before polls close. The ballot spans U.S. Representative, Governor, State Senate, State Assembly, County Sheriff, County Assessor, four contested County Board seats, school board races across three districts, and two school operating referendum questions.

A Lot Of Boxes To Fill In

Deputy City Clerk Renata Fisk, 44, said her office has fielded a steady stream of calls since absentee ballots went out, most of them variations on the same theme. 'The number-one question is some version of "how many different ballots do I get,"' Fisk said. 'The answer is one ballot. It's just a long one. I've started telling people to picture a Culver's menu board, but if every item was a separate vote.'

Fisk said a second caller last week asked whether she could mail her ballot back early even though she planned to vote in person on Election Day, apparently under the impression that completing the ballot once would not be sufficient. Fisk said she spent several minutes explaining that early returns and in-person votes are not cumulative before the caller said she would 'just come in and see.'

Poll worker Carl Yesh, 58, who has staffed the Precinct 9 table at Horning Middle School for eleven cycles, said he has already laid in extra supplies for Nov. 3: a second box of pens, a taller stack of 'I Voted' stickers, and a folding chair for the hallway line he expects to form outside the booths rather than outside the building. 'Usually the bottleneck is the check-in table,' Yesh said. 'This year I think the bottleneck is going to be a guy standing in the booth reading County Assessor candidate statements for the first time in his life.'

Referendums Add Two More Decisions

Beyond the candidate races, voters in parts of the county will see two school operating referendum questions, which the city's guidance describes as 'their own reading assignment.' Fisk said her office has received requests for sample ballots far earlier in the cycle than usual, with several residents asking to review the full 37-item list at home before Election Day rather than encountering it cold in the booth.

'We've never had this many people ask for a sample ballot ahead of time,' Fisk said. 'Normally it's a handful of people who take it very seriously. This year it's everyone, because nobody wants to be the person holding up the line at item 22 trying to remember if they already voted for County Board.'

"I've started telling people to picture a Culver's menu board, but if every item was a separate vote."

— Renata Fisk, Waukesha deputy city clerk

One Resident's Dry Run

Backslide Way resident Ned England, 70, said he requested a sample ballot specifically to time himself with a stopwatch before Nov. 3, filming the exercise for his YouTube channel 'Nedventuresout,' which has 420 subscribers. England said his first attempt took 19 minutes and 40 seconds, which he considered 'right in the city's advertised window, maybe a hair over.'

'I skipped the County Assessor race the first time through because I didn't know what an assessor does,' England said. 'Second run I looked it up on my phone in the parking lot, which I understand you're not supposed to do inside the booth itself.' England said he plans to arrive at his polling place a full hour before his own preferred time, 'in case there's a line of other guys with stopwatches.'

The city's guidance does not address phone use inside the booth directly, though Fisk said poll workers have been reminded that voters may take written notes or sample ballots in with them, which her office is encouraging as the simplest way to keep the line moving. 'Write down who you're voting for before you get there,' Fisk said. 'Thirty-seven is a lot to hold in your head, and we'd rather you take four extra minutes at your kitchen table than ten extra minutes in my booth.'

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. The City Clerk's Office said sample ballots are available by address lookup now through Election Day.