November 2026 Lunch and Learn

Ballots and Bullets: Wisconsin’s Civil War Soldiers & the Election of 1862

It was late September in a heated election year, and Republicans in Madison realized that thousands of their loyal supporters were off defending the Union. This spelled disaster for the Grand Old Party, since every voter needed to cast their ballot in person. Explore how other states' laws and the Wisconsin Constitution were used in Madison at the eleventh hour to craft a wartime measure, eventually leading to our modern absentee ballot.

Zac Dickhut is the curator of the Waukesha County Historical Society & Museum. Using sixteen years of experience in a variety of museum settings, he coordinates visitor experience, interpretation, and collections management efforts with this institution. He, along with his Waukesha museum colleague Dr. Samantha Zahn, also teaches courses on museum fundamentals and administration in the Museum Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

We are moving our Lunch and Learn spots to Wednesdays for the future of programming. With a ticket purchase for the presentation, you will also get entry into our museum after the talk is over at 1:00 PM, when our museum is open for operating hours on Wednesdays!

All food orders are through Rochester's Deli of Waukesha. The orders come with the sandwich of your choice, a bag of chips, and a cookie. Orders are placed on Friday at 4:00 PM before the week of the event. Please have food orders placed by then!