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State expects 40 percent turnout for April election

By: Dan Shaw, [email protected]//March 21, 2016//

State expects 40 percent turnout for April election

By: Dan Shaw, [email protected]//March 21, 2016//

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State officials are estimating that voter turnout in the April 5 statewide election will be 40 percent.

The state’s Government Accountability Board said if the predictions comes true, it would mark the highest turnout seen in a Wisconsin presidential primary since 1980. Forty-five percent of the electorate then turned out to vote in that election.

To get to a 40 percent turnout on April 5, 1.75 million of the 4.44 million eligible voters in Wisconsin would have to come out to the polls. State officials said they expect Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican nomination to be a big draw, as well as the contest between U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Hillary Clinton.

Also likely to drum up interest is the race between Wisconsin Justice Rebecca Bradley and Appellate Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg for a 10-year term on the state’s Supreme Court. Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to the high court to fill a position left vacant by the unexpected death last year of Justice Patrick Crooks.

The contest between Bradley and Kloppenburg has heated up following revelations that decades ago Bradley, when a student at Marquette University, wrote articles referring to homosexuals as “queers” and “degenerates.” Bradley has repeatedly apologized for her words, saying her opinions have changed.

The Government Accountability Board reported Monday that turnout in Wisconsin presidential primaries tended to range between 40 percent and 50 percent between 1960 and 1980. From 1984 to 2012, the numbers fell to between 22 percent and 38 percent.

For statistics from previous elections, go to: http://www.gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/statistics/turnout.

Early voting – also known as in-person absentee voting –began Monday for the April 5 election and will last until the close of business on April 1.

 

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