State Officials Gear Up for Election
Tuesday’s spring election not expected to have high turnout.
Vote here ward(s) 246, 297, 298. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Wisconsin election officials are gearing up for Tuesday’s election, which will include a nonpartisan state Supreme Court race, municipal and county races, circuit and appellate court races and dozens of referendums around the state.
Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney said he expects turnout will be lower than a U.S. presidential election.
“A spring election is typically about 20 to 25 percent of the voting age population,” he said. “But what matters is what’s on the ballot, and in this case, we do have a contested Supreme Court race.”
He noted that turnout in the April 2011 election was unusually high at 34.3 percent, when there was a hotly contested Supreme Court race between David Prosser and Joanne Kloppenburg.
“If you had a little bit of a line in November, I wouldn’t expect one on Tuesday,” he said. “That said, if there’s a hot mayor’s race in your community or a controversial referendum on the ballot, turnout may be higher.”
Voters need to show a photo ID like a driver’s license, passport or military ID to receive a ballot, said Magney. He said same-day voter registration will be available at each polling place.
Tuesday’s election will include 87 referendums across the state, including one on partisan gerrymandering in Vernon County and another on medical marijuana legalization in Wood County.
According to the state Elections Commission, Wisconsin had 3,416,204 active registered voters as of March 1.
Listen to the WPR report here.
Wisconsin Officials Gear Up For Spring Election was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
