Voters Throw Shade on Biden, Trump

Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

You had to love the stubbornness of Wisconsin primary voters last week. With the two major-party choices for President already decided – Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump – many voters chose to throw shade on both candidates.

Sure, 79% of Republican presidential primary voters backed Trump’s bid for a second term. But 21% of them voted for four other candidates who had dropped out or cast “uninstructed” ballots that rejected all five of the party’s choices for president on Nov. 5.

The math: Trump’s unofficial statewide vote total was 476,355, but the unofficial total for the five other Republican presidential primary choices – Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy and “uninstructed” – was 131,764.

Why that 131,764 total is important: Trump won Wisconsin by only 22,748 votes in 2016, beating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and Trump lost the state by 20,682 votes in 2020.

Voters in the state’s Democratic presidential primary also sent a message to Biden, the party’s choice for president.

Sure, Biden got almost 89% of the vote. But the unofficial total of Democrats who cast “uninstructed” ballots – protesting the President’s inability to stop Israel’s destruction of Palestinian lives and property – was 48,162, or about 8% of the total Democratic presidential primary vote. Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips got the remaining 3%.

Why the 48,162 “uninstructed” votes by Democrats is important: It’s twice Biden’s winning margin statewide of 20,682 votes in 2020.

State Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler called Biden’s win significant and didn’t mention the “uninstructed” protest vote. “Wisconsinites turned out in force to make their voices heard, delivering a resounding victory for President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary and racking up tens of thousands more votes than Trump,” Wikler said.

Unofficial statewide totals gave Biden 511,845 votes and Trump, 476,355.

For his part, State Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming thanked voters for adopting two Republican-sponsored amendments to the state Constitution.

Those changes will prohibit independent third-party individuals or groups from giving cash to local governments to help pay for elections and stipulate that only an “election official designated by law” can conduct elections involving candidates or referendums.

“Victory!” Schimming declared, adding: “Wisconsin has spoken and the message is clear: Elections belong to voters, not out-of-state billionaires. Thanks to the efforts by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and grassroots organizing, Wisconsinites have turned the page on ’Zuckerbucks’ and secured our elections from dark money donors.”

A foundation of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated millions of dollars to a third-party group, the Center for Technical and Civic Life, that awarded grants to 200 local governments across Wisconsin to help pay costs of the 2020 election for president.

Republican legislators who sponsored the constitutional changes said most of that money went to cities that traditionally vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Republicans pushed the constitutional changes after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that said any third-party donations to pay for local elections must be administered by the state Elections Commissions.

The constitutional changes put more pressure on the six-member Wisconsin Elections Commission – three Republicans and three Democrats – adding to the issues they face before the August partisan primary and November general election:

First, will the WEC have to draft rules advising local clerks who qualifies as an “election official designated by law” and able to conduct elections? If so, can the WEC adopt emergency rules offering that advice by the August and November votes?

Second, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled last week that the WEC – and not the court – must determine if there are enough valid signatures on a second petition to recall Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and whether that recall vote must be held in his old or new southwest Wisconsin Assembly district.

Third, the terms of two veteran WEC members – Chair Don Millis, a Vos appointee, and Mark Thomsen, appointed by former Assembly Democratic leader Gordon Hintz – are up within weeks. Will Millis, a respected lawyer whose experience with state election laws dates from the 1990s, and Thomsen, a veteran Milwaukee lawyer who has served on the commission since 2016, be reappointed?

A state Supreme Court ruling suggests that Millis and Thomsen can continue to serve, if Vos and Assembly Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer make no new appointments. The Vos and Neubauer appointees to the WEC do not require Senate confirmation.

Like everything dealing with Wisconsin elections, it’s complicated.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com