Category: Wisconsin

Wisconsin GOP’s Eric Hovde Concedes Senate Race to Tammy Baldwin

Just the News
Wisconsin Senate Race

Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde conceded his race to Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Monday, saying he did not want to “add to political strife through a contentious recount.”

Hovde was down about about 29,000 votes from Baldwin, putting the margin at less than a percentage point, The Associated Press reported. The vote margin allowed him to request a recount that he would have had to pay for himself. Baldwin declared victory in the Senate race two days after Election Day.

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Underly Proposes $4 Billion in New Wisconsin K-12 Education Spending for Next Biennial Budget

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Jill Underly

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly said she plans to ask for more than $4 billion in new state spending on the state’s schools, which was termed an “additional $3 billion” in the upcoming 2025-27 biennial budget.

The figures are just a request at this point before Gov. Tony Evers offers his proposal and then legislative budget writers in the Republican-led legislature begin their process.

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Wisconsin DMV Provides Free State ID Cards for Voting Purposes

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People Voting

 U.S. citizens residing in Wisconsin who do not already have an approved photo ID or the necessary identification documents to obtain one can still apply for a temporary identification card for voting purposes, free of charge.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation requests all Wisconsinites applying for the temporary free ID used for voting – this is not a Wisconsin Voter ID, which does not exist – bring proof of name and date of birth, proof of identity, proof of state residency and proof of U.S. citizenship.

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Wisconsin Early Voting Delayed by Label Printing Issues

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Voting Booth

Early voting in Wisconsin has been delayed due to label printing problems, causing voters to wait hours in line to vote in some cases.

The state began early voting on Tuesday, with voters waiting up to three hours to cast ballots in West Bend, a city 40 miles northwest of Milwaukee with a population of about 32,000, The Washington Post reported. After state election officials said late Tuesday that the computer issues causing the label printing problems were resolved, they acknowledged on Wednesday that they had occurred again. Voters waited about 90 minutes to vote on Wednesday.

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Groups Split over Wisconsin Ballot Measure Preventing Non-Citizens from Voting

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Voting Line

Opponents of Wisconsin’s November ballot proposal are intensifying efforts to dissuade voters from approving the measure meant to prevent non-citizens from voting.

Currently, the Wisconsin constitution states that “Every United States citizen age 18 or older who is a resident of an election district” is a qualified voter; the ballot proposal would replace the phrase “every United States citizen” with “only a United States citizen.”

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Wisconsin School District Asks Taxpayers for Additional $124.4 Million in Referendums

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Teaching Students

The Wauwatosa School District is asking voters to approve a pair of referendums worth $124.4 million on the Nov. 5 ballot.

But a taxpayer advocacy group believes the district, with declining enrollment, should “right-size” its current budget rather than using a referendum to spend more taxpayer money. The group pointed toward a second planned referendum in 2026 as part of a cycle of tax increases that it believes needs to end.

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Wisconsin DOJ Investigating Wausau Drop Box Removal by Mayor

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Doug Diny

The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is now reportedly heading up the investigation into any wrongdoing by Wausau Mayor Doug Diny related to his removal of a ballot drop box that was not yet in use.

Diny told WISN-TV in Milwaukee that he worked with someone from Wausau’s maintenance department over the weekend to return the drop box, which was then opened to the public on Monday.

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Kennedy Will Stay on Ballot

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RFK Jr Wisconsin

Former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has lost the fight to remove his name from Wisconsin’s ballot after the state Supreme Court ruled against him.

In its decision, the Court found that Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen E. Ehlke exercised proper discretion when denying Kennedy’s request for a temporary injunction and keeping the former candidate on the ballot.  

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RNC Sues Wisconsin City for Not Hiring Enough GOP Election Inspectors

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The Republican National Committee has sued the city of Racine for failing to hire more Republican citizens as election inspectors during the partisan primaries and instead mostly selected volunteers unaffiliated with either of the two major political parties.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley called the lawsuit a response to “Democrat interference” in a Tuesday press release. The release incorrectly claims the city of Racine “hir[ed] disproportionately more Democrats in the primary election” than Republicans.

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Wisconsin Leaders Push to Prevent Noncitizens from Registering to Vote

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Eric Toney

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said Wisconsin needs a proper process to check its voter rolls for noncitizens and remove them, ensuring election integrity in the state.

Currently, election commissions cannot check their rolls with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to ensure an estimated 90,000 individuals who are currently legally in the state, who can get a drivers license, do not register to vote.

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Judge Rules Kennedy Will Remain on Wisconsin Ballot

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RFK JR

A Dane County Circuit court ruled against former Independent party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., siding with the Wisconsin Election Commission’s decision to keep Kennedy’s name on the state’s ballot this November, despite his withdrawal from the race and request for removal.

Kennedy’s lawsuit argued that, absent a compelling reason, the state’s different treatment for third party candidates violates the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment. It claimed the different deadlines for ballot withdrawal for major party candidates versus third-party candidates – Sept. 3 for the former and Aug. 6 for the latter – are unlawfully discriminatory.

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Voter ID Loophole Could Undermine Trust in 2024 Election Results, Wisconsin Law Firm Report Warns

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People Voting

A legal firm has identified what it calls a voter identification loophole in Wisconsin’s election system that it says could undermine election confidence and potentially sow doubt about election results.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released a report highlighting the large increase since 2016 of voters who identify as “indefinitely confined,” a status that allows them to continually receive an absentee ballot without showing an ID. Wisconsin only requires proof of residence in order to register to vote.

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Financial Controversies Surround Both U.S. Senate Candidates in Wisconsin

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Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Eric Hovde

Both U.S. Senate candidates from Wisconsin accuse each other of lacking fiscal transparency, and each deny harboring conflicts of interest. But recent investigations show incumbent Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde are equally opaque about certain financial circumstances.

Hovde is the CEO of California-based Sunwest Bank, and a July report by WCPT820 Radio shows the company received foreign government deposits totaling nearly $250,000 in December 2023. 

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Agrees to Expedited Hearing on Green Party Ballot Ban

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Jill Stein

Following the Wisconsin Election Commission’s dismissal of a complaint from a Democratic National Committee staffer, who seeks to remove Green Party candidate Jill Stein from the ballot, the plaintiff has doubled down and filed an expedited appeal with the state’s Supreme Court.

Court documents reveal it accepted the case Thursday and is requesting that the plaintiff provide additional information, actions that have caused two Supreme Court justices to dissent.

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Lawmakers Press University of Wisconsin President over Spending and Return on Investment

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Jay Rothman

Republican lawmakers on the study committee looking at the future of the University of Wisconsin want to know what Wisconsin families are getting for the $1.3 billion the state currently spends on the university, and what they should expect if the state spends more.

Lawmakers questioned UW President Jay Rothman at his appearance at Thursday’s hearing in front of the Legislative Council Study Committee on the Future of the University of Wisconsin System.

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Local Wisconsin Governments Get First Shared Revenue Payments

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Tony Evers

Local governments across Wisconsin got their first billion-dollars from the state’s shared revenue plan after Gov. Tony Evers’ office recently announced the payment.

“This distribution marks a significant milestone as it includes the new supplemental county and municipal aid established under 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, which is specifically allocated to support essential services such as law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical services, emergency response communications, public works, courts, and transportation,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

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Trump Leads Harris in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan but Ties in Wisconsin, Poll Claims

Tom Pappert
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump

A poll released Thursday and conducted after President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection shows former President Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in the battleground states Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan, while the former president is tied with the vice president in Wisconsin.

The New Emerson College pollsters found Trump enjoys his greatest lead in Arizona, where they determined 49 percent of voters support him while just 44 percent back Harris.

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Wisconsin Lawmakers Strike Down Three Emergency Election Rules

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People Voting

The fight over who writes the rules for elections in Wisconsin continues.

The Legislature’s rule making body, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, on Monday voted to suspend three proposed emergency rules from the Wisconsin Elections Commission that dealt with uniform rules for absentee voting, challenges to candidates and challenges to nominating paperwork.

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Poll: Trump Leading Biden in Midwest Swing States

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Joe Biden and Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump leads President Biden by 3 points in Michigan and 5 points in Wisconsin, according to the results of a new Emerson College poll.

The poll, conducted July 15-16, surveyed about 1,000 likely voters per swing state. Democrats for the Next Generation sponsored the poll, which has a +/-3% margin of error. It was released Thursday, the final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

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