Early voting for the 2022 Wisconsin primaries opened last Tuesday — two weeks before the primaries are set to begin Feb. 15. The primaries will decide the candidates on the ballot for Wisconsin’s Spring Election which is set for April 5.

There are 125 primary elections occurring in Wisconsin, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Executive Director Debra Cronmiller said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.

“The Spring primaries/elections are critically important as most of governing is done at the local level,” Cronmiller said. “When we elect our school boards, city councils, county supervisors, mayors and other local officials, we are electing the folks who will make decisions that impact our daily lives.”

The City of Madison will not be on that list. According to the City’s website, Madison will not be holding any primaries because no office has enough candidates to require one.

Nor will any Dane County municipalities be having primary elections, according to the League of Women Voters of Dane County’s website. The only spring primary on the league’s website is for the Mount Horeb School Board. Information on Mount Horeb’s School Board candidates can be found on the league’s website.

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Though the City of Madison is not holding any primaries, there are many important ones occurring across the state. Milwaukee will be voting on a new mayor for the first time in nearly two decades after Former mayor Tom Barret resigned in December 2021, according to PBS Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin’s spring election, voters elect non-partisan officials to school boards and county boards, as well as local judges, University of Wisconsin Political Science Professor David Canon said in email statement to The Herald.

“[The spring elections] obviously are essential for local government, but turnout is always much lower in spring elections than fall elections,” Canon said.

Organizations such as the LWV of Wisconsin work to increase voter turnout for local, regional, and national elections through compiling and distributing information on candidates, hosting voter registration drives, and educating local school and community groups on the voting process, according to the LWV Dane County website.

To find out more about the Wisconsin primaries and voting in your county, Cronmiller recommends voters speak to a local clerk or check myvote.wi.gov for more information on how to vote.