early

The head of Wisconsin's election agency says lawmakers might want to simplify the process of early voting. About 550,000 state residents used the absentee system to vote in advance of Tuesday's balloting. That was 18 percent of the nearly 3 million total votes cast.

State election officials say they underestimated the number of Wisconsinites voting early. The Government Accountability Board thought it would be 15 percent of all votes cast.