WAUKESHA, Wis. — A big rush of people out to early vote in the City of Waukesha caused lines at the polls on Tuesday. A viewer reached out to TMJ4 saying they dealt with both long lines and some confusion over what they needed with their ballot.
"We are working through the kinks and we do that. We try to adjust constantly,” said Linda Gourdoux, the interim clerk for Waukesha.
TMJ4 checked both Tuesday and Wednesday and the day made the difference for early voters. On Wednesday, there was almost no line.
“How long did it take you to vote?” asked reporter Rebecca Klopf.
“Ten minutes,” answered Martha Jacobson, a Waukesha voter.
“ I would say 10-15 minutes,” said Ellen Krzyston, another Waukesha voter.
On top of lines, TMJ4 saw that on Tuesday every single person needed help with a ballot and only two people were available to help.
“We were actually surprised by the volume of people. We were thinking this week would be a slower week and next week would be busier. But right out of the gate there were people,” said Gourdoux.
The city saw 500 early voters on Tuesday alone. And every voter needs to make sure they are voting in the right ward. In the city there are 54 of them. If you vote in the wrong one, your vote might not count. There are poll workers to help do it, but it was slow going.
“Rather than pay a lot of people to come in and not have anything to do we kind of went light,” said Gourdoux. "Today, Sarah brought in some more poll worker staff."
Watch: Early voters in Waukesha deal with longer waits on first day
“They had plenty of help and they were there to help you,” said Martha.
If you want to avoid longer waits, Gourdoux said avoid coming first thing in the morning and during the lunch hour.
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