(The Center Square) – There is another call to end Wisconsin’s April elections.
Former Gov. Scott Walker said during a weekend appearance on UpFront that voters would be better served by one, statewide election in November.
“Bring it to November when the most people in the state turn out, not only for the courts, for school boards, for every election, have a higher turnout, get everyone involved,” Walker said.
Wisconsin has its non-partisan elections for school boards, local councils, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April. The former governor said while that may have once been the case, none of those races are non-partisan any longer.
“The facade that somehow these are nonpartisan positions, particularly on the Supreme Court, it is clear conservatives get behind one candidate, liberals versus the other, just lay it out there,” Walker added.
Walker is not the only Republican to call to move the spring elections to November.
Former candidate for governor Josh Schoemann proposed moving the spring elections to the fall as part of his proposal to overhaul elections in the state.
He too said the April election has grown beyond where it first started.
He said voters need to be honest about the politics at play, particularly during the Supreme Court races, and “stop pretending we’re something we’re not.”
Moving Wisconsin’s spring elections, however, will not be easy or quick. It would take a constitutional amendment to end the April election. That will take two votes in the legislature in two back-to-back years. It would then require voters to approve the move. The governor would not be able to veto the plan.
