Some hiccups in La Crosse finding out where to vote

Some didn’t realize city
went through redistricting

 

Those voting in La Crosse on Tuesday ran into some problems.

Some voters were showing up at the wrong polling places, though some of that was expected with nearly all voters having relatively new spots to cast ballots.  

La Crosse mayor Tim Kabat doesn’t hold the city clerk’s office at fault for any confusion over polling places.

“Believe me, the city clerks, in their office, and the poll workers, they take this responsibility probably greater than any other function that they do, and that is to make sure we have good elections,” Kabat said.

Redistricting by the city council led to the new polling places that were in place for the February primary, as well. 

Voters, who also had to deal with new voter ID rules, were notified by postcard sent out in late December of the redistricting. 

“So they have been working their tails off to get the information out there,” Kabat said. “It is unfortunate that, if there is still confusion, but we’ll work through it the best we can.”

Kabat says the city might have a wider education campaign about polling places before the fall elections. 

“We’ll learn because we’ll make some addition tweaks for the November presidential election, which will have an even higher turnout,” Kabat said.

He also hasn’t ruled out funding an education effort so voters can easily identify their polling places in the city.