Hamilton's blog

Don’t forget to get out and vote in today’s recall primary!

The polls are open until 8PM, and you do not need to have an ID to vote. Voters may cross over to vote in different parties’ primaries so long as they only vote in one election for each office – Governor, Lt. Governor, and State Senator. This is because these recall elections are separate election events that happen to be held on the same day, unlike a regularly scheduled primary election where voters can only vote in one party's primary.

According to recent polls, Gov. Scott Walker leads Democratic challengers Tom Barrett and Kathleen Falk, with the recall primary less than two weeks away. Walker had been trailing the leading Democratic opponents, Kathleen Falk and Tom Barrett, in earlier polls.

Although the recall elections have accelerated the process and drawn the attention of election-watchers away from the general elections, the biennial fight for control of the Wisconsin legislature has quietly begun. Candidates for office this fall can now officially circulate nomination petitions.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear challenges to the state’s new voter ID law. This means there is not enough time for the cases to be resolved before the May 8 primary and June 5 recall elections, so the injunctions barring implementation of the law will remain in place.

On April 11, 2012, a panel of three federal judges accepted the Democrats' revisions to two Milwaukee state assembly districts. Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is appealing the panel’s decision to the United States Supreme Court, which will have the final say in where Wisconsin’s voting district lines lie.