MONROE — While the looming presidential primary has dominated national headlines, local officials are joining those across the state in getting final preparations underway for the April 2 spring elections.
The upcoming election in Wisconsin features races for the state’s presidential primary; the court of appeals; District 4 judge; city, village, some town offices; county board supervisors; school board members; and various school and municipal referendum questions.
In the county board race, incumbents Harvey Mandel in District 12, David Bristow in District 23, and District 13 supervisor Jeff Williams, have submitted declarations of non-candidacy by the deadline, which was extended to Jan. 5, according to Green County Clerk Arianna Voegeli.
In Lafayette County, there will be new faces on the Lafayette County Board after three supervisors filed for non-candidacy — Supervisors Kurt Malott of Belmont in District 2, Tim Olmstead of Argyle in District 9; and Daniel Morrissey of Shullsburg, in District 14.
On the School District of Monroe Board of Education ballot, all three incumbents are up for reelection — Phil Vosberg, Theresa Keehn and Jim Curran. One challenger, Nick Baker, is a newcomer to elected office entering the race for a seat on the board.
Voegeli on Thursday said that she is waiting for additional paperwork to come in to finalize the April ballot and issue a sample ballot. That process should take a few weeks occur, she added.
As for state-wide races, Green County voters will be asked to elect a candidate for the District 4 appellate court, which is based in Madison. That court is the intermediate court that reviews decisions by the trial or lower “fact-finding” courts. The appellate court essentially corrects errors at the circuit court level statewide and is made up of 16 justices. The next stop for any legal appeal after that is the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
On April 2, Polls around both counties will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Clerks around the state also are preparing for thousands of absentee ballots, experts say.