By Shawn Johnson
Wisconsin Public Radio
A polling location is open for voters in the spring election Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at Tenney Park in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
The Wisconsin Election Commission will mail about 178,500 postcards to eligible voters who are not yet registered to vote.
The postcards, which will be mailed Friday, tell recipients they can register to vote online. The mailing does not include a voter registration form.
The postcards are required under Wisconsin’s membership agreement with the Electronic Registration Information Center, a multi-state database of government records known as ERIC.
Wisconsin joined ERIC in 2016 under a law passed by GOP legislators and signed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. It has since come under scrutiny from Republicans who’ve cast doubt on the 2020 election.
Wisconsin has sent similar postcards every two years dating back to 2016. That year, the WEC sent the cards to 1.28 million eligible but unregistered residents.
“Wisconsinites will likely receive numerous election-related mailings this summer that may appear official but in reality, are not,” said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe in a press release announcing the mailing. “Wisconsin voters, however, can rely upon the information provided in these official postcards about how eligible citizens can register to vote.”
The WEC said the mailings won’t be sent to people who are not eligible to vote, such as those serving a sentence for a felony. People who have recently moved but did not fill out a form for a forwarding address also won’t receive the postcard.
People who receive the postcard can register online, by mail, at their clerk’s office or at their polling place on Election Day.
The WEC says people who are registered to vote but are inadvertently sent the postcard can check their voting status at myvote.wi.gov.
State to send postcards to eligible but unregistered voters was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio