Absentee Voting

• The easiest and most convenient way to request an absentee ballot is through the State of Wisconsin’s MyVote website at www.myvote.wi.gov.
• Download, complete, and mail the EL-121 Absentee Ballot Request Form to the City Clerk’s office (only accepted via mail). Include a copy of your valid photo ID with the application if you have not requested an absentee ballot via mail before. (If you have requested a ballot via mail before, your ID is on file.)
• You will need to include:
  • Your name
  • Your birthdate
  • Your Wauwatosa home address (legal voting residence; you must already be registered to vote from this address
  • Your signature
  • The address to which the ballot should be mailed (if different from your home address)
  • Your telephone number or email address to allow elections officials to contact you if there is a problem with your absentee application
  • A copy of your valid photo ID (must only be submitted the first time a by-mail absentee ballot request is made, unless an address change and re-registration occurs)
• Request an absentee ballot via fax (414) 479-8989. The request must contain the same information as noted in Option 1.

Absentee ballots are mailed via the US postal system. If you do not receive your absentee ballot within seven days in the mail, please call our City Clerk’s office: (414) 479-8917. You can also track the status of your absentee ballot at the MyVote website at www.myvote.wi.gov. The last day an absentee ballot can be mailed to a registered voter is the Thursday before an election.

Your absentee ballot will arrive in an envelope with instructions for returning your ballot, along with a postage-paid return envelope. Before returning your ballot, make sure you sign the absentee ballot envelope and have your witness sign it and include their printed name and address.

You can return your absentee ballot:

• By mail using the postage-paid return envelope.
• In person at the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall. Only the voter may return their ballot, with exceptions provided for voters with disabilities.
• In the absentee ballot drop box located in the southwest section of the sidewalk at Wauwatosa City Hall, 7725 W. North Ave.

If you return your absentee ballot on Election Day, it must be received by 8 p.m. Bring it directly to the City Clerk’s Office inside City Hall or use the absentee ballot drop box, which closes at 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Do not return absentee ballots to polling sites.

Absentee ballot drop box reminders:

• The absentee ballot drop box is the only drop box that accepts absentee ballots. Do not place ballots in the City Hall payment drop box or Library book deposit box.
• Only Wauwatosa ballots will be accepted. If you are not a Wauwatosa voter, contact your municipality for information about returning your ballot.

In-Person Absentee Voting

The last day to vote by in-person absentee ballot at the City Clerk’s Office is 5 p.m. on the Friday before each election.

When you vote by in-person absentee ballot at the Clerk’s Office, you will seal your voted ballot in a carrier envelope. The envelopes will be stored securely and counted at central count processing at City Hall on Election Day.

• Military voters and voters who live permanently overseas are exempt from any requirement to provide a photo ID.
• Military voters are exempt from having to register to vote.
• Permanent overseas voters must register to vote, but are not required to provide proof of residence; permanent overseas voters may vote for federal offices only.
• Military voters and overseas voters may apply for an absentee ballot using the Federal Post Card Application or (FPCA). This form also serves as a voter registration form for overseas voters. Ballots can be faxed or emailed to military and overseas voters, but must be returned via the postal system. Voters can also visit the State’s website, MyVoteWI for voting assistance.

Registered electors who are indefinitely confined because of age, physical illness, or infirmity may request that an absentee ballot be sent automatically for every election. Visit www.myvote.wi.gov, or  submit the EL-121 Absentee Ballot Request Form to the City Clerk’s office, 7725 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, WI 53213. Witness signatures on the absentee ballot envelope may be used to satisfy the photo ID requirement.

Individuals living in certain residential care facilities (i.e., CBRF, RCAC, etc.,) have the option of voting at the polls on Election Day, voting at the Clerk’s office during the two weeks prior to each election, or voting at their facility when it is visited by Special Voting Deputies. By-mail absentee voting is not an option. Witness signatures on the absentee ballot envelope may be used to satisfy the photo ID requirement.

The Special Voting Deputy (SVD) makes visits to certain residential care facilities prior to the every election:

• Hart Park Square, 6600 River Parkway
• Harwood Place, 8220 Harwood Avenue
• Luther Manor, 4545 N. 92nd Street
• The Courtyards at Luther Manor, 4611 N. 92nd Street
• Lutheran Home, 7500 W. North Avenue
• St. Camillus Assisted Living and Memory Care, 10101 and 10201 W. Wisconsin Avenue
• Oak Park Place, 1621 Rivers Bend

Second visits are scheduled if needed.