Wisconsin's first day of early voting surges past 2020 mark

The number of people who voted on Wisconsin’s first day of early voting in person for the 2024 election has surged past the number of people who voted on the first day of in-person early voting for the 2020 election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission said that 97,436 people voted in person Tuesday, the Badger State’s first day of early voting this year. According to a 2020 report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, around 80,000 people cast their ballots by the morning after the first day of in-person early voting that year.

Wisconsin is a key state in multiple elections this year, as Vice President Harris and former President Trump may need to win the state to secure the presidency and incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) is attempting to keep her seat in a tight race against Republican rival Eric Hovde.

Trump is slightly leading Harris in Wisconsin in an average of polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, with the former president garnering 48.3 percent support to the vice president’s 48.1 percent. Baldwin is leading Hovde in an average of polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ by 1.8 percentage points, with the Democratic incumbent garnering 48.2 percent support to her Republican rival’s 46.4 percent.

Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), was in Wisconsin on Tuesday for a rally alongside former President Obama, where he went after tech billionaire Elon Musk for his relationship with Trump.

“Look, Elon’s on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dips‑‑‑ on these things,” Walz said, referencing a Trump rally earlier this month during which Musk jumped into the air onstage.