Issue Campaign
GOTV 2020
to register to vote, check your registration, or get an absentee ballot.
Key Dates
September 17 Deadline for Wisconsin’s clerks to mail absentee ballots for voters with requests on file. If you haven’t received yours in 10 days, contact your clerk.*
October 14 Last day to register online or by mail for November 3
October 15 — 30 Register to vote in municipal clerk’s office/satellite location*
October 20 — November 1 Municipal clerks may offer early voting (dates and hours vary by municipality)*
November 3 Election day
December (date TBD) CG assembly to celebrate our GOTV work and to launch next steps
*Click here to find your municipal clerk’s contact information
Milwaukee has an oversized role to play in deciding how our country is governed for the next 4 years. In 2016, the Presidential race was decided by 22,000 votes in Wisconsin. The voter turnout in Milwaukee dropped by nearly twice that -- nearly 40,000 votes -- from the 2012 to the 2016 election.
Because of COVID-19, the need for active citizen involvement to register voters, help them request absentee ballots and cast their votes is even more critical. New voter registration is down since the pandemic began. Many people are voting in new or unfamiliar ways and need help getting accurate information about the requirements and options for voting.
Our April 7th election was a debacle. The absentee ballot system was overwhelmed and many voters did not receive their ballot in time. Requesting an absentee ballot was technically challenging for many voters because of our voter ID law; many were unable to request an absentee ballot because they lacked the means or the know-how to copy or upload a photo of their ID. Because of a lack of poll workers, there were only 5 voting sites open and people had to stand in line for hours. We are committed to ensuring that everyone who wants to vote, gets to vote.
Common Ground's non-partisan, Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaign in Milwaukee includes:
Turning out over 15,000 people to vote in the 2020 presidential election. These are people we know in our member institutions and in our social networks. And these are people we’ll meet through phone calls and door-to-door canvassing around our institutions. We are multiplying our impact by asking every voter we talk with to find three more people to help vote.
Working with the Milwaukee Election Commission to help voters whose absentee ballots were rejected because of a missing signature as well as voters who need a witness signature on their absentee ballot.
Collecting the names and addresses of everyone we turnout to vote so that we can match them to the voting record and make sure that every vote was counted.
