Voters will next head to the polls in August, but election officials are seeing a bigger emphasis for absentee voting. The Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously approved sending about 2.7 million applications for absentee ballots to registered voters earlier this week. As a result, each municipality will receive a grant of $200 plus $1.10 for each registered voter to help defray the costs of the projected increase in absentee voting. That is helpful for Sturgeon Bay City Clerk Stephanie Reinhardt, which saw over 2,200 absentee ballots get requested for the April election. She feels the voters are becoming more educated on what it takes to vote absentee.

Reinhardt says she has been receiving two to three absentee ballot requests a day, which is high considering the fall general election is more than five months away.