The spring primary election will take place Tuesday, Feb. 21 and will serve as an opportunity for voters to become familiar with the candidates on the ballot. The election consists of candidates running for mayor — including incumbent Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway — Common Council and Supreme Court.  

The primaries are held to nominate nonpartisan candidates for the spring election, which will take place Tuesday, April 4. The nominations this month allow voters to be better prepared for the spring election by seeing which topics candidates find important, according to deputy city clerk Jim Verbick.

Student votes in the spring primary election could help narrow down the number of candidates on the ballot for the general spring election, according to Verbick. 

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Verbick said a student’s vote is just as important as any other Madison resident, and student votes impact them. 

“The things that happen in the local race impact students just as much — maybe sometimes more than other people because the local races, aldermanic seats, the mayoral seats … control things like the metro schedule and the bus route,” Verbick said. 

Students at the University of Wisconsin may vote as long as they are U.S. citizens 18 years and older. They also must have resided in Wisconsin for at least 28 days prior to the election. A person is not eligible to vote if they are currently serving a felony sentence including probation or parole.

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If a student doesn’t have a Wisconsin ID, they can get a UW voter-compliant ID card for free, according to UW’s voter information website.  

Although the last day to register to vote online or via mail for the upcoming primaries was Wednesday, students can still register through an absentee voting site or at the polls on Election Day.

“We have locations, throughout the city, at a lot of our libraries and community centers,” Verbick said. “Anyone in the city of Madison can utilize [any of those locations] to vote or register to vote if they need to.” 

The campus is holding in person absentee voting at both Union South and Memorial Union from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 13-17, the week before the primary election. This is an opportunity for students to register to vote and vote if already registered, Verbick said.