GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – As the days start to wind down, we get closer to the 2026 Wisconsin Spring General Election.
According to absentee ballot reports from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, numbers across the board show a significant decrease in the number of ballots that were mailed out, returned and people who completed early voting.
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Brown County had 33,846 sent out to voters in 2025.
This year, only 16,843 ballots were sent out to voters, which is nearly 50 percent fewer ballots than were sent out to voters.
This was seen in other counties, like Winnebago and Outagamie, a significant decrease in ballots that were sent out and returned for the spring election.
The total number of absentee ballots that were mailed out dropped from 747,964 to just under 340,000 ballots.
In last year’s spring race, it was a nationwide race for the Supreme Court, which drew high numbers.
Not much attention is being paid to this year’s race outside of the state; many believe that this year’s election has a case of political fatigue.
“This is a year where politics, I think, has been overwhelming people with the Trump administration’s actions and all the court challenges and protests over the ICE,” said UW-Green Bay political science emeritus professor Michael Kraft. “Some people may be a bit burned out about politics and government.”
The downward numbers in absentee ballots mean that Kraft is still optimistic when polls open on Tuesday morning that many voters will still show up on election day.
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“Wisconsin holds these important elections like the state Supreme Court, and they are often held in the spring, where many fewer people are inclined to vote than if it were on the ballot in November, you know, but spring elections are always like that,” said Kraft.
Early voting for the spring general election goes until Friday morning, and the polls open on Tuesday at 7 a.m.
