MONROE — The spring election was held April 4, and several area seats will have newly elected persons residing in them in short order. Results were as of April 5 and are unofficial until canvassing can confirm the totals.
The Monroe Common Council had four alderperson seats open, with just two incumbents running for re-election — Andrew Kranig and Tom Miller. Both were re-elected and will be joined by top vote-getter Corinne Wartenweiler and Kyle Knoll.
In all, 2,964 voters turned in a ballot in the City of Monroe, about 52.6% of the city’s 5,630 registered voters, according to City Clerk/Treasurer Brittany Rindy. That is up from 1,822 (about 32%) from the 2022 spring election, and ahead of the 2021 spring election (2,228 votes, about 39%) that featured a heavily contested circuit court judicial race.
This week, nearly a quarter of Monroe voted absentee. Of the 781 absentee ballots sent out to city residents, 700 were returned.
According to Arianna Voegeli, County Clerk, Green County saw 12,939 voters cast a ballot — 57% of the 22,478 registered voters. Just one year ago, only 7,427 votes were cast in the county (about 33%), while the Nov. 2022 midterm election saw 17,653 (about 78.5%).
In the School District of Monroe’s Board of Education race, voters could select up to three candidates. Nikki Austin kept her seat on the school board, while former educator Terri Montgomery and Blain Supply, Inc. project manager Mike Froseth Jr. grabbed the other open seats. Incumbent Tim Wolff lost his bid for a new term by 187 votes. A total of 4,807 ballots were turned in, with 10,034 votes cast. Write-in candidates combined for 569 total votes. One seat remains open on the board, the post vacated by Teri Ellefson. The board plans to select a candidate to fill that void in the coming weeks.
The New Glarus school district passed a non-recurring operational referendum of just less than $5 million, while Pecatonica’s school district passed an $18.8 million referendum. Pecatonica plans to construct additional classrooms and a gymnasium, as well as renovations, infrastructure and technology replacements and improvements at the elementary school.
Non-school referendums were a bust, however.
The Village of Blanchardville asked voters for levy increases in a pair of referendum questions, but both failed by 15 votes. The City of Brodhead had a vote on a referendum as well for about $2.4 million initially and about $400,000 each year moving forward. It failed 506-356. Had it passed, funding would have increased for public safety, public works, parks and recreation, the public library and EMS services.
Perhaps the tightest race in the county was for Cadiz Town Board Chairperson, where Kenneth Goodman appears to have defeated Jason Figi by a singular vote, 143-142. In Lafayette County, Argyle Town Board Supervisor 2 position had a blank ballot, with Dan Hicks (36) edging Eva Denny (31) in write-in votes. In the Clarno Town Board Supervisor 1 race, there were no candidates on the ballot, and 34 write-in votes had yet to be resolved.
There were 94 local races that went uncontested.
The election also posed multiple prospects that could determine the way many things are handled in the state. The electorate overwhelmingly picked Janet Protasiewicz for Justice of the Supreme Court over opponent Daniel Kelly, a former appointed justice. Protasiewicz, who ran on a liberal platform and openly states that she would vote to preserve abortion rights and fair maps, won the state by more than 200,000 votes, or about 11.1%. In Green County, she won by almost 19%. She even carried Lafayette County, normally a conservative stronghold, by 1.5%.
The state also had three referendum questions on the ballot, two binding and one advisory.
The first two questions expanded judges’ powers to set cash bail and other conditions in regards to the threat the offender might have on the general public. Both questions were overwhelmingly approved with more than 2/3 of the vote. Both will now be written into the state constitution.
The third measure was an advisory question to give the legislature an idea of public opinion. The vaguely worded question asked if able-bodied and childless adult citizens should be required to seek employment in order to receive welfare benefits. Many of the state’s welfare benefits already require employment or employment searches, like unemployment and FoodShare assistance. The question passed with 79.5% of the vote.