There’s something strange about Wisconsin’s election results from last night and today that some people are picking up on. Kimberly Strassel will explain:
1) I am legitimately interested/confused by this. I checked, and the top number is indeed Wisconsin's active registered voter number as of Nov. 1. The bottom is approx. what has been counted. That is a (not feasible) 89% turnout. https://t.co/Meb8B9IH0f
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) November 4, 2020
There were earlier reports you may have seen that showed Wisconsin’s registered voter totals at 3.1 million. But Strassel is right, it’s 3.6. I checked.
She continues…
2) The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is claiming a 71% state turnout. I'm not sure where it gets this, but that would make more sense, given even populous Milwaukee didn't exceed 83% turnout, and Dane lower. (Do math on what rest of state wud need to bump up state avg to 89)
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) November 4, 2020
3) True, Wisconsin has same day voter registration. But to be at 71%, WI would have yesterday needed 900k same-day registrations. ( If I'm doing my math wrong–please tell me. 3,288,771 divided by 4,588,771 equals 71% . 4,588,771 minus 3,684,726 =900k)
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) November 4, 2020
4) Is that possible/conceivable? That would be akin to increasing WI's registered voting population by up to 30%–in one day. It would also suggest that if those same-day registrations hadn't happened, WI would have had a ridiculously LOW turnout.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) November 4, 2020
5) I suppose it is possible WI's turnout was higher than 71% (again, not sure where MJS gets that). But that would be wild, given the state's own history and what we saw elsewhere yesterday. An even an 80% turnout would still require HUGE same-day registration.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) November 4, 2020
6)Surely a record/tally of those same-day registrations must exist. It would therefore seem a straightforward proposition to set the numbers/record straight?
Again, explain if I'm missing something. @WI_Elections— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) November 4, 2020
I went back and looked at Wisconsin’s 2016 results and their stated turnout rate, according to Wikipedia, was 67.34%. I think it’s absolutely reasonable to ask what the heck’s going on with this, especially after what we saw from that gal in Texas.