State Representative for Assembly District 76 Francesca Hong, Founder and Director of The Progress Center for Black Women Sabrina Madison and President of American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin Kim Kohlhaas discussed the importance of the upcoming spring election at a panel Tuesday night, co-sponsored by For Our Future WI and the University of Wisconsin campus unions.
The upcoming election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice will decide the ideological majority of the court, according to Hong. The retirement of Judge Patience Roggensack left the court with three conservative judges and three liberal judges.
Conservative former justice Dan Kelly and liberal justice Janet Protasiewicz are the two candidates on the ballot for the upcoming election.
Though the Supreme Court is supposed to be non-partisan, recently the court’s makeup has determined whether it rules with a conservative or liberal ideology, Hong said.
“Most important to many Wisconsin voters is the freedom to choose and have bodily autonomy,” Hong said. “Reproductive justice, when I say it’s on the line, I mean it in a sense of the ruling that the State Supreme Court makes on reproductive justice could determine if the current 1848 abortion ban [remains].”
Another issue the State Supreme Court has the power to decide is the makeup of the state’s legislative maps and the effects of gerrymandering.
“We’re heavily gerrymandered in some parts of the state,” Madison said. “It means that we never really get to sort of choose better folks to represent us.”
Other topics the Supreme Court may see cases on within the next term include healthcare, worker’s rights, environmental protections and voter ID laws, Kohlhaas said.
The spring primary for the general election that took place in February showed record turnout for Wisconsin voters. Student voting increased by around 40%, according to Hong.
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The panelists recommend that voters use their personal sphere of influence to motivate those around them to vote in this election.
“Especially on Election Day and the night before, reach out to your friends and families,” Kohlhaas said. “Reach out to those 10 people, because there’s a lot of people who forget.”
The general election will take place April 4.
