Why is Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum not a polling place?
A Hearken’s Citizen’s Agenda is an engagement tool, typically used for political reporting, that uses the gauge the interest of local audiences and communities. According to Hearken, this approach is “designed to put power back in the hands of the people that politicians are meant to be serving.” As a reporter, a Citizen’s Agenda is a perfect way for reporters to embed themselves into a community by prioritizing that community’s need in their reporting, regardless of the topic being pursued.
For my Citizen’s Agenda attempt, I spoke to a few women on Milwaukee’s Northwest side to see what issues are impacting their life. Theresa Jones, owner of Unique One’s salon and barbershop was one of the women I spoke to. Her major concerns included reckless drivers and accessible/safe polling places.
When I asked her what questions she might have for her local officials one of her first questions was, “Why is the Fiserv forum not a polling place.”For this experiment, I decided to answer this question of why places like the Fiserv Forum or Miller Park (home to the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers, respectively)are not being used as a polling place in this election. The Milwaukee Bucks expressed their interest in using the arena as a polling place.
“We’re looking forward to working with the City of Milwaukee, in any capacity that we can, to ensure ppl can safely exercise their right to vote!” said Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry in a tweet.
A statement released on Oct. 5 by the Wisconsin Elections Commission explained that the Commission’s office could not be able to use the Fiserv or Miller Park as alternative polling places for early voting. According to the statement, the Commission must follow statues that prevent the body from assigning new or alternative polling places 14 days before absentee ballots become available. While there are provisions for an emergency location to be used, the Commission is not able to take advantage of that loophole for the upcoming election. “Municipalities may only use sites for in-person absentee voting for the November 3 General Election that was designated by their governing body prior to the June 12, 2020 deadline,” the statement said.
Much of the anxiety around how to vote in the upcoming election comes from the drama that unfolded during Wisconsin’s April primary election. The city of Milwaukee was assigned just 5 polling places in April, down from the city’s typical 180 polling places. The lack of polling places caused lots of friction between voters and officials in charge of setting the state’s election up for success. It’s likely that this friction and the controversy over absentee ballots have led to the uptick in Milwaukee’s 14 early-in person voting sites. On social media, people have shared scenes of people lining up for blocks to vote early. The decision not to use a location like Fiserv Forum or Miller Park felt like an underutilization of resources to the Milwaukeeans, like Mrs. Jones.
Cities like Sacramento, Atlanta and Detroit were able to use their NBA arenas as polling places. While the Fiserv Forum was shut down as a polling place for early voting due to state statutes, the idea was met with pushback from Wisconsin Republicans. Earlier this fall, the Wisconsin Republican Party claimed it would be illegal for professional ballplayers or mascots to be present at these polling places, according to AP. Many Democrats assume that this push back is a way to minimize any momentum that might come from having such big names present at polling places in such a liberal stronghold.
Another concern Mrs. Jones had was whether school buildings will be used as polling places. According to a Milwaukee election commission representative who I spoke to on the phone (he didn’t want to release his name to me), the city is still using schools as polling places and the only changes that have happened might be because a school is closed down. Here is a full list of the polling places set for November 3.
This exercise was great. It was nice to hear what concerns people had about their neighborhoods without any parameters in mind. I learned a lot about the area of Milwaukee where I conducted my interviews. Those kinds of insights are invaluable. I hope to have an opportunity to use this method again but hopefully with more people in different circumstances.
