Groups around Wisconsin are mobilizing voters for the April 1 races as early voting starts today.
Wisconsin College Dem Chair Matthew Lehner said they’re bringing in Democrats from around the country to help get young voters to the polls for the state Supreme Court contest and other races.
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“A big emphasis we’ve been making this election is collaboration,” Lehner said. “This is really a nationwide thing.”
WisGOP Rapid Response Director Anika Rickard said Republicans are encouraging voters to vote early, absentee or on election day.
“The future of Wisconsin and America is at stake and every vote counts,” Rickard said in a statement to WisPolitics.
WisDems Communications Director Joe Oslund said Democrats are also working to turn voters out. He said that volunteers have nearly doubled the amount of voter contact from the 2023 election. Oslund said students are a specific target.
“Turning out student voters is an absolutely critical piece of the early vote picture, which is why WisDems staff will be joining student organizers on campus starting tomorrow to remind folks about the start of early voting,” Oslund said.
Two statewide races are on the ballot this spring: the Wisconsin Supreme Court race and the race to lead the Department of Public Instruction.
The Marquette Law School poll released earlier this month indicated that many voters are unfamiliar with the spring candidates: 38% of respondents didn’t have an opinion on Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate who served as attorney general for four years; and 58% said they didn’t have an opinion of his liberal rival Susan Crawford, who has been a Dane County Circuit Court judge since 2018.
And even more respondents said they had no opinion of the state superintendent candidates: 64% did not have an opinion of incumbent state Superintendent Jill Underly; and 71% had no opinion of conservative-backed education consultant Brittany Kinser.
Lehner said voters’ lack of knowledge about the candidates is not concerning, but it is “motivation for us to work hard to get people informed about this.”
On the first day of early voting, national abortion rights activist Amanda Zurawski was to visit Wisconsin to rally voters for Crawford. During a precarious pregnancy, Zurawski was denied an abortion in Texas following the Dobbs decision, and now advocates for abortion rights around the country.
Zurawski was to host a press conference in Milwaukee in the morning and a rally in Madison in the afternoon with reproductive rights advocates.
Crawford is also hosting rallies for UW-Whitewater and UW-Madison students today to encourage early voting.
Also, throughout the day today, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the League of Women Voters and other advocacy groups will gather at the Black Business Hub to host a GOTV Day of Action to get people out to vote early.
WDC Executive Director Nick Ramos noted a voting march and letter writing throughout the day to incentivize early voting as well as a petition circulating about the constitutional amendment on the ballot.
The referendum asks voters to choose whether a voter ID requirement should be part of the state constitution.
The Marquette Law School poll indicated that 73% of voters favor the constitutional amendment, and 27% oppose.
To find out more about where to vote and what’s on the ballot, go to myvote.wi.gov.
