MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers teamed up with the Milwaukee Election Commission Tuesday for a drive-thru registration event at Miller Park.
People who showed up to register to vote didn’t even have to leave their cars, as volunteers met them at their vehicles.
The Uecker parking lot just east of Miller Park is typically packed with game-day tailgaters, but on Tuesday it took on a new purpose. The drive-thru site helped people through the voter registration process. Soon-to-be first time voter Chris Jimenez said he didn’t want to figure it out alone.
“I guess since I’ve never done this I feel like it’s a long paperwork that I have to sign and I guess I’m too lazy to sign like, people wouldn’t want to do that like do this whole process, but it’s actually pretty easy,” Jimenez said. “It’s just one document and there was a witness here so it was pretty easy.”
Participants needed to bring a photo I.D. and a proof of residence document. For Meshala Harrison, re-registering to vote was a necessary task after a change of address.
“For me it was very helpful, for the simple fact that I actually did try to update everything online and for some reason it didn’t work, so that’s why I had to take the extra steps to come out here,” Harrison said.
State records show there are currently about 28,000 fewer registered voters in Milwaukee compared to September of 2016.
“That is because we saw a decrease in voter participation in 2016, a drop of 40,000 voters in the 2016 presidential election,” said Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg.
As Woodall-Vogg explains, Wisconsinites who haven’t voted in at least four years receive a postcard in the mail to certify that they want to remain registered. Those who don’t respond are dropped from the voter rolls.
