By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-22 12:58:11 | Updated at 2024-10-22 15:43:41
2 hours ago
Election Day
November 5
Early voting
Has begun
Polls open
7am local time (8am ET)
Poll close
8pm local time (9pm ET)
Presidential electoral votes
10 awarded to statewide winner.
First votes reported, Nov. 3, 2020: 9:07 p.m. ET.
By midnight ET: about 70 percent of total votes cast were reported.
Wisconsin is no stranger to close presidential elections.
The margin of victory was less than a percentage point in the state's 2020, 2016, 2004 and 2000 elections. So it might be again this Election Day.
Both Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are competing hard for the 10 electoral votes at stake in Wisconsin, making frequent stops in the Badger State - including several in the vote-rich Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay areas.
Wisconsin was one of three 'blue wall' states (Michigan and Pennsylvania are the others) that went narrowly for Trump in 2016 after almost 30 years of voting for Democratic presidential candidates.
Four years later, Democrat Joe Biden won all three states back for Democrats with a margin in Wisconsin of about 20,000 votes out of nearly 3.3 million votes cast.
In the state's U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin seeks a third term against Republican Eric Hovde.
Baldwin is one of five vulnerable Senate Democrats defending a seat against a well-funded, Trump-backed challenger in a campaign cycle when a defeat for even one would likely cost the party control of the chamber. Both the Baldwin and Hovde campaigns and their allies have blanketed the state with more than $160 million in advertising, according to data from the campaign ad tracking firm AdImpact.
In the state Legislature, Democrats hope that new district maps will help them chip away at the lopsided majorities Republicans have enjoyed in both chambers for more than a decade.
Almost half of Wisconsin´s 33 state Senate seats and all 99 state Assembly seats are up for election this year.
In the state Assembly, Democrats have their most competitive campaign cycle in years, thanks in large part to the newly redrawn districts and the retirements they helped bring about.
Wisconsin voters will also consider a statewide ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to specifically ban noncitizens from voting in state elections. Noncitizens are already barred from participating in federal elections nationwide, and no state permits them to vote in state elections.
However, some municipalities in a handful of states allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. The issue has prompted efforts by Republicans in Congress and several states to ban the practice entirely.
(ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTING)
