(The Center Square) – Voters can start casting ballots in Wisconsin’s races for Supreme Court and state ssuperintendent this week.
Early, in-person absentee voting begins Tuesday.
“Starting on Tuesday, March 18 – two weeks before Election Day – clerks can begin to issue in-person absentee ballots at the clerk’s office or at other designated locations,” the Wisconsin Elections Commission said in a statement. “The in-person absentee voting process involves a voter both requesting a ballot and completing that ballot on the same trip to the clerk’s office or designated location.”
Voters have been able to mail in absentee ballots for a while.
In-person absentee voting can run until the Sunday before Election Day.
“According to state law, clerks can make in-person absentee voting available through Sunday, March 30. Municipalities are not required to offer [in-person absentee voting] through March 30, but they cannot offer it beyond that date,” the Elections Commission added.
Communities are not required to offer in-person absentee voting, but can if they wish, and many Wisconsin communities do.
The Elections Commission also says the clock is ticking on people who want a mail-in ballot as well. March 27 is the last day a voter can ask for an absentee ballot.
As always, voters will need an ID in order to cast an in-person absentee ballot.
The Wisconsin DMV on Monday sent its regular reminder about voter ID.
“A federally compliant REAL ID card is not required to show at the polls. The Wisconsin Elections Commission notes other forms of identification are valid for voting, such as military or student ID cards,” the DMV said in a statement.
“Most people already have some form of identification they can use for voting purposes, including a driver license or ID,” DMV Administrator Tommy Winkler said.
The last Supreme Court race in Wisconsin drew about 40% of eligible voters in the state.
The Supreme Court race in Wisconsin is, once again, the most expensive ever. The latest analysis says the two campaigns and outside groups have spent $59 million so far.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw an increase of 22,146 residents from international migration between July 2023 and the end of June 2024, combined with 6,332 from domestic migration.
That amounted to a total net migration of 28,478 residents, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Forum. Those sources accounted for 93.2% of the state’s population growth during that time, with births exceeding deaths by 2,000 as well.
The state’s net migration over the past three years have been at the highest point since 2004. Net migration was at least 25,000 over those years, more than twice the previous annual record during the last two decades.
The Wisconsin increase is part of a national trend that resulted in a population increase of 2.8 million for the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2024.
Comparatively, Wisconsin ranked second among the 12 Midwest states and was ahead of its neighboring states in net migration per capita in recent years.
The state is expected to see a population decline from 5.96 million to 5.71 million by 2050, according to recent projections.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/wisconsin/article_2397b9d2-cde5-11ef-bb1e-879dafffcff1.html
Those projections are due to an aging population and fertility rates that are lower than the projected death rates as Wisconsin’s population ages.
“With two of the state’s three sources of population growth – natural change and international migration – showing signs of vulnerability, Wisconsin and other states in similar positions may wish to double down on efforts to attract residents from other states and to retain those already here,” the report said.

(The Center Square) – Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol continue to move through their to-do list. The latest was a slate of bills focusing on public safety.
The Assembly on recently approved:
● K9 Riggs Act – Increases penalties for causing injury to law enforcement animals. The bill is named after Kenosha County Sheriff Department K9 Riggs, who was shot by a criminal. Riggs survived and is now in retirement.
● Prosecution Reform – Requires approval from the court before prosecutors can dismiss serious charges.
● Parental Notification – Ensures parents are promptly notified of sexual misconduct in school.
● Criminal Case Database – Creates a new database of crimes in Wisconsin.
● Reckless Driving Crackdown – Allows for the impoundment of vehicles used in reckless driving offenses.
● Parole Revocation – Revokes extended supervision, parole, or probation if a person is charged with a new crime.
● Child Trafficking Penalties – Imposes life imprisonment for the crime of trafficking multiple children and requires restitution be paid to the victims.
● Theft Crimes – Increases the penalties for certain retail theft crimes.
● School Resource Officers – Ensures officers are put back into Milwaukee Schools.
“Cracking down on crime shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but in Madison, it has increasingly become so,” Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August said after Thursday’s votes.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, authored the K9 Riggs Act, which was named after a Kenoha police dog who was shot and wounded by a suspect back in 2021.
“Riggs’s heroism united the community, galvanizing support for local law enforcement just a year after rioters in Kenosha protested against them,” Nedweski added. “These dogs are not only invaluable members of the department; they are also family to their partners.”
But not every lawmaker was on board with the Republicans’ public safety slate.
Milwaukee Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, called the legislation “misleading and misguided.”
“Once again, the Wisconsin legislature was forced to spend our time and resources considering badly written, badly conceived bills that will harm people and waste public resources,” Clancy said in a statement. “It’s wildly irresponsible to even consider increasing penalties and interfering with the very few tools of leniency we have with a prison system holding 5,000 more people than intended. But here we are.”
The slate of legislation will head to the Senate.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.2% as the state saw another record high of total nonfarm jobs in the state in January numbers released on Thursday.
The unemployment rate is below the national rate of 4.0% while Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate stayed at 65.9% as the national rate rose to 62.6%. Wisconsin had a 3.0% unemployment rate in December.
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Section Chief and Economist Scott Hodek said it is too early to see the impact of President Donald Trump’s policies on the state but that, typically, tariffs lead to rising prices and a dampening effect on the overall economy.
But Hodek said that we will wait to see if companies take on the added costs or they are passed on to consumers.
“It’s a little too early to really dig in in terms of analysis,” Hodek said. “But we do know that we are seeing a lot of volatility overall and there definitely will be impacts.”
The overall number of people employed in the state decreased from a record-high number by 3,800 over the month to 3,082,900 employed but remains up 10,600 compared to January 2024.
Total nonfarm jobs in Wisconsin increased 5,700 over the month and increased 20,900 over the year to 3,053,300 jobs.

(The Center Square) – An Illinois congressman supports the idea of college athletes getting paid like school employees, but others say programs might be cut and players could get fired.
At a recent hearing of the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust in Washington, Illinois U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Chicago, said he opposed legislation to grant the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) an antitrust exemption.
“The fact is, the entire college athlete system is designed to suppress the compensation and labor rights of players,” Garcia said. “Coaches and athletic directors profit handsomely from this system. In 2023, the highest-paid state official in 43 states was a college coach.”
U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, R-South Carolina, suggested to University of Wisconsin Athletic Director Chris McIntosh that colleges might cut sports if athletes were employees.
“We would take every step necessary to avoid that. That would be the last resort,” McIntosh said.
“But it is a reality that that could happen,” Fry suggested.
“I think it would be a reality for many programs at lower levels,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh said it would be difficult for his school to hire all of its student athletes as employees.
“It puts tremendous pressure on our budget. I’m trying to envision our HR department posting 800 positions, posting a position for a wide receiver on our football team,” McIntosh said.
Both McIntosh and University of Louisville swimming and diving coach Arthur Albiero warned of consequences for lower-revenue schools.
McIntosh said, in an employee system, players could theoretically get fired. He said in the NFL, he got injured in his second year and his contract was terminated in his third year.
He also said that some sports could be cut at “lower-level programs.”
U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wisconsin, chairs the subcommittee on the administrative state, regulatory reform and antitrust.
“College sports is rapidly heading in the direction of unlimited payments, unlimited transfers, and no rules around who is eligible to compete,” Fitzgerald said.
In addition to discussing athletes earning income and antitrust liability for the NCAA, lawmakers and witnesses discussed NCAA Name, Image and Likeness rules, the college transfer portal and other regulations.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin ranks 26th in overall road cost-effectiveness and condition in Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report, a seven-spot improvement from a year ago.
The report ranks each state on road and bridge safety, pavement quality and on a cost-effectiveness metric.
Wisconsin’s top ranking, seventh, came due to its low rate of rural fatalities while it ranked 10th in urban fatalities and other fatality rate.
The state ranked 10th in maintenance disbursements ratio, which are the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. It ranks 24th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones.
“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Wisconsin should focus on reducing other disbursements and improving both rural and urban arterial pavement condition. The state ranks in the bottom 15 in all three categories,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Reducing the percentage of structurally deficient bridges should also be a priority for Wisconsin, as the state ranks in the bottom half of states in bridges.”
Wisconsin got worse in urbanized area congestion, going from 13th to 27th, while drivers on average spent 17 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
Wisconsin highways rank 33rd in urban Interstate pavement condition, 30th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 44th in urban arterial pavement condition, 39th in rural arterial pavement condition and 27th in structurally deficient bridges.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s voter ID law has had no negative impact on voter turnout in the state since it was fully implemented, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
Voter turnout, in fact, has slightly increased since the law went into effect. Wisconsin voters will vote on making voter ID a constitutional amendment April 1.
Democrats in the state have argued the amendment will disenfranchise voters.
The state’s current law, however, has had no negative impact on minority groups voting or Dane and Milwaukee counties.
The report found that socioeconomic factors such as poverty rates and education levels have a larger impact on voter turnout than voter ID laws.
“By analyzing decades of election data both before and after Wisconsin implemented Voter ID, we found a general rise in voter turnout, rather than the widespread disenfranchisement that critics often suggest,” said WILL Research Director Will Flanders. “Any claims suggesting Voter ID is ‘voter suppression’ are merely political scare tactics aimed at undermining faith in Wisconsin’s elections. Furthermore, it’s worth exploring whether Voter ID can actually increase turnout by strengthening confidence in Wisconsin’s election system.”
The research cited several studies that backed its conclusion across the country, with data showing that states with voter ID laws don’t have significantly different turnout than those without the law.
It also cited a Wisconsin study after the 2016 election where 1.7% said they didn’t vote because they didn’t have adequate ID while 1.4% said they were told at the polls that their ID was not adequate.
“It is well known among political scientists that individuals have a tendency to lie to pollsters regarding whether they voted or not,” the report said. “One key explanation for this is what is known as social desirability bias. In general, people do not want to ‘look bad’ to pollsters. As such, they may lie to the pollster about things that are perceived as socially undesirable, such as refraining from voting.”
Instead, WILL’s report looked at aggregate data of turnout change in the state and in key counties such as Dane and Milwaukee.
The study found that voter turnout has increased by 1.5%, on average, in the state since the law was implemented.
“This is an interesting result,” the report said. “While it is likely too large of a leap to say voter ID has increased turnout due to the correlational nature of our analysis, it seems that there is no negative relationship.”

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin bill could raise the penalties for those convicted of property theft in multiple cases.
The bill would allow for multiple property thefts that occur in a six-month period to be added together as one crime. Property and retail thefts are charged based upon the items stolen starting with a property theft Class A misdemeanor for items worth less than $2,500 and retail theft for less than $500 up to a Class F felony if the property theft is more than $100,000 or a Class G felony if the retail theft is more than $10,000.
“Led by organized gangs that resell stolen goods, these brazen criminals repeatedly victimize our neighborhoods and terrorize business owners,” said State Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, who is sponsoring the bill along with State Rep. William Penterman, R-Hustisford. “This mayhem leaves us with more violence in our communities, and higher retail prices in our stores.”
The bill also enables felony charges for those with prior misdemeanor convictions.
Assembly Bill 89 passed the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety and is headed to the calendar committee on Thursday.
https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ab89
“These initiatives will help turn the tide against thieves traveling across state lines to engage in retail crime and other organized financial crimes, including identity theft and credit card fraud, choosing targets they think are more amenable to their activities,” Jacque said. “This bill is an important step to fighting back.”
The bill is being supported by lobbying from multiple retail and business groups, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Milwaukee Police Association.

(The Center Square) – It took less than five minutes for the candidates running for Wisconsin’s open Supreme Court seat to start accusing each other of having a political agenda.
Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel and Dane County Judge Siusan Crawford faced off in their only debate Wednesday night ahead of next month’s election.
Schimel was the first to talk about politics and the high court. He said he’s running to stop progressive justices from abandoning the rule of law.
“The stakes are huge. I don’t know if they could be bigger. I’ve never been involved in anything where the stakes are bigger than this. If you told me five years ago the Wisconsin Supreme Court would be going through a political agenda, I would have said you’re crazy. They stay within some guardrails. But that’s not happening now,” Schimel. “I watched in 2023 how a candidate, who ended up winning on the Supreme Court, promised on the campaign trail how they would rule on cases that weren’t even filed yet.”
Crawford then immediately countered that Schimel is the one being political.
“He is paying good lip service to the principles of impartiality and open-mindedness, but throughout this campaign he has taken issues on cases pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, including cases like one involving an 1849 abortion law that if it were in effect would criminalize pretty much all abortions in Wisconsin,” Crawford said.
Schimel says lawmakers, not the court, should decide what Wisconsin’s abortion law should be.
The two went back-and- in the hour-long debate.
They talked about billionaire donors. Crawford got money from George Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, while Elon Musk is spending big to support Schimel.
They also talked about each other’s past.
Schimel took issue with some of Crawford’s light sentences for criminals during her time as a judge in Dane County. But Crawford countered with questions about the backlog of rape kits during Schimel’s time as attorney general.
They also talked about recusing from possible future Supreme Court cases, and about whether they would hear a challenge to Act-10.
The debate ended largely where it started, with a politically tinged look at what the Wisconsin Supreme Court will do after Election Day.
“Important thing for voters to know is that the cases that come before The Supreme Court can involve a wide array of issues of great importance to Wisconsinites,” Crawford said.
“Unfortunately, since the majority on the court right now is running through a political agenda, what cases get filed and what cases get accepted by the Supreme Court is going to be impacted by who wins the election,” Schimel added.
Voters will make their decision in the race April 1.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford are in a dead heat with 47% of the potential vote heading into the April 1 election, according to a new poll.
Each candidate’s image is 45% favorable, according to OnMessage’s poll of 600 likely Wisconsin voters on March 9-10, conducted for the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
The candidates have a 7 p.m. Wednesday debate.
“Like many Wisconsin statewide elections, this race is very close and will come down to the wire,” shared WMC Vice President of Government Relations Scott Manley. “This is a winnable race for either candidate right now, and will simply boil down to whichever side does a better job of getting out their voters. It really cannot be overstated how much is on the line.”
The poll showed that 5% of voters are undecided.
Crawford reportedly raised $7.4 million and spent $4.2 million during the race, while Schimel has raised $4.9 million and spent $2.5 million through the end of February, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
That was along with 12 independent committees spending more than $11.5 million on the race.
There has been nearly $59 million spent on the race in total, breaking the previous record, according to WisPolitics.
The poll asked voters what the most important issue is in the supreme court race with 37% saying “fighting to uphold the rule of law,” 20% saying “reducing crime and keeping violent criminals off the streets” and 19% saying “ensuring that abortion is available and accessible in Wisconsin.”
The poll found that Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly has a 33% to 30% lead over challenger Brittany Kinser with 38% undecided in the race.
Underly had a 28% favorability rating compared to 25% unfavorable while Kinser was 23% favorable and 16% unfavorable.

(The Center Square) – This past weekend could be the last time people in Wisconsin could have to spring forward.
A pair of Republicans at the statehouse in Madison are proposing an end to Daylight Saving Time.
Rep. Nate Gustafson, R-Fox Crossing, and state Sen. Rachel Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, this week introduced legislation that “eliminates” the idea.
“Research shows the disruption caused by Daylight Saving Times transition can lead to increased risks, workplace injuries, and traffic accidents, as well as negative impacts on mental health and productivity,” the two wrote in their sponsorship memo.
Currently only Arizona and Hawaii don’t have Daylight Saving Time, but more than a dozen other states are considering it.
The National Conference of State Legislatures last year said 20 states have passed laws legislation or resolutions that would end their Daylight Saving Time if Congress ever allows it.
Gustafson and Cabral-Guevara told Wisconsin lawmakers Congress generally doesn’t allow for time change changes, but Wisconsin would be a good candidate.
“Federal law generally preempts states from deviating from standard time or eliminating daylight saving time, but federal law allows a state that lies entirely in one time zone, such as Wisconsin, to observe standard time instead of Daylight Savings Time as long as the observation is throughout the entire state,” the two added as a note from the Legislative Reference Bureau.
Gustafson and Cabral-Guevara said changing the clock is more than just losing an hour of sleep every spring.
“Anyone with children knows the weeks of the changes are some of the worst weeks of the year for kids,” they said in their note. “By ending twice a year time changes, this bill aims to promote public health, safety, and economic stability.”
One of the unique changes that would have to follow with Gustafson and Cabral-Guevara’s plan would be a partial rewrite of Wisconsin’s liquor license law. Currently that law has a closing time exemption for Daylight Saving Time. That exemption would be erased if the legislation ever becomes law.