In a country where voter turnout for national elections is less than that of Iraq, it should not come as any surprise that voter turnout in spring elections is notoriously low. Spring elections were yesterday. I voted around 11 a.m., four hours after the polls opened — I was the fifth voter.
Perhaps low voter turnout ought to be expected. After all, people are being called upon to give up a bit of time to stand in line and fill in a couple of X’s on a ballot — all to elect some local candidates they’ll probably never hear about again until the next go-around. Spring elections are rarely exciting on the same scale as fall elections — where are the nasty campaign ads, the controversial statements and the political gaffes? It’s just no fun. There’s no sense that this is the time when citizens can rise up against the inefficient bureaucracies of government and shout their dissent. Perhaps if President Obama had slipped health care reform onto the spring ballot as a national referendum, that impressive and necessary piece of legislation would not have drawn such intense reactions.
Spring elections, largely dominated by judicial elections, are much more refined affairs. (It probably helps that virtually every seat is non-partisan, and the majority aren’t even contested.) However, even as someone who rued her birthday last November, I must admit I was intensely excited at the prospect of voting.
State and local government do not receive anything amounting to the media coverage showered upon national office, but in truth it is local policies, which have a greater effect on everyday life. The 80 bus, that welcome sight when the temperature is a frigid 2 degrees, is a result of city governance. The newly created Regional Transit Authority was one of the main topics handled by County Board Supervisor candidates Analiese Eicher and Michael Johnson at a debate at the end of March held in Humanities.
As for the plethora of judicial posts, there is a common belief that who the judge is only matters to those who must appear before the bench. However, rulings passed by the courts impact more than just the litigants. The precedents established by the courts determine the types of policies local legislatures will pass, and also affect people’s actions. In an opinion filed on March 25, the Wisconsin State Court of Appeals (for which there was a contested election in District 4, which encompasses all of Dane County) handed down a decision further defining what constituted a reasonable decision not to rehire a worker who had temporarily left the firm due to a work-related injury. (WI statute 102.35(3) roughly states that employers must compensate workers for lost wages if they are not reinstated after a period away from work due to a work-related injury.) This is a rather important decision in further shaping the relationship between employers and employees, a relationship that has been in a rather tense state of flux since, well, basically since the Industrial Revolution. Yet this decision will be noted only by a select few. Local government, be it school districts, the Court of Appeals, the Circuit Court or the County Board, matters.
Most UW students live in Dane County Board District 5, in which MATC student Michael Johnson and UW student Analiese Eicher sparred for the position of County Board Supervisor. All of Dane County is in District 4 for the Court of Appeals, a seat on which Brian Blanchard and Edward Leinweber both would have liked. For the Circuit Court, Branches 4, 5, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were up for election; however, no seat was contested, and all the candidates –Amy Smith, Nicholas McNamara, C. William Foust, Stephen Ehlke, Sarah O’Brien and Peter Anderson, respectively — were incumbents. For the Madison Metropolitan School Board, seats 3, 4 and 5 were open, with seat 4 contested between Thomas Farley and James Howard. Beth Moss, for seat 3, and Maya Cole, for seat 5, were both incumbents.
Voting took place on Tuesday, April 6, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Gordon Commons, Holt Commons, Memorial Union and Memorial Library were all polling places — it was not that hard to find somewhere to vote. On-site voter registration was quick and only required a Wisconsin driver’s license or a Social Security number. The League of Women Voters always posts good, impartial information on all of the aforementioned candidates. The Government Accountability Board also had information on its website. So remember to go stand in line and make your X. It will matter, even if you don’t notice it right away.
Elise Swanson ([email protected]) is a freshman with an undecided major.
