2023 Wisconsin spring general election updates: Voters back expanding work requirements for welfare benefits

Wisconsin voters are heading to the polls April 4 for the 2023 spring general election with a hotly contested state Supreme Court race on all the ballots.

In addition to the race between Janet Protasiewicz and Daniel Kelly for a spot on Wisconsin's top court, there are three statewide referendum questions on ballots, including two about bail reform and another about welfare benefits. There are also school board, school referendums, county, city, a judicial race, as well as a key state Senate race on some ballots.

Follow along here for live coverage all day.

10:20 p.m.: Milwaukee Common Council race still too close to call

Two of the three races for Milwaukee Common Council remained neck-and-neck before the city’s absentee ballots were reported Tuesday night.

The City of Milwaukee, like seven other Milwaukee County municipalities, uses a central location to count absentee ballots and reports those results all at once.

The races for council Districts 1, 5 and 9 are without incumbents and drew a crowded field for the February primary.

About 10:10 p.m. and with 100% of wards reporting, David Bowen was leading Andrea Pratt for District 1 by 34 votes or 1 percentage point.

In District 9, with 19 of 21 wards reporting, Larresa Taylor led Odell Ball by 74 votes or about 2 percentage points.

The story was different in District 5, where with just one ward outstanding Lamont T. Westmoreland was leading Annette Jackson with 67% to 32%.

Candidates running for three open Milwaukee Common Council seats (jsonline.com)

The elections of the three winners will mean all of the city’s 15 council seats will be filled for the first time in a year.

The winners will serve the remainder of their predecessors' terms, which end in April 2024.

- Alison Dirr

10:15 p.m.: Wisconsin voters back expanding work requirements for welfare benefits

Wisconsin voters supported in an advisory referendum Tuesday a work requirement for recipients of taxpayer-funded benefits.

The vote had more symbolic meaning than practical effect. Many public benefits in Wisconsin already include such a requirement, and advisory referendums do not by themselves compel changes.

-- Hunter Turpin

9:35 p.m.: Geenan wins court of appeals race in District 1

Sara Geenen will be the next court of appeals judge for district one which covers Milwaukee. The local attorney unseated incumbent William Brash in a landslide victory that saw Geenen nearly double the amount of votes Brash received.

This will be the first time Geenen serves on the bench. Her legal career includes 16 years as an attorney with a focus on labor, bankruptcy and employment law. She has primarily represented workers and local and international labor organizations.

--Drew Dawson

9:18 p.m.: Race for 8th Senate District is close between Dan Knodl and Jodi Habush Sinykin

The race for the the 8th Senate District is going down to the wire.

GOP Rep. Dan Knodl is narrowly leading Democratic lawyer Jodi Habush Sinykin with 91% of the vote in.

If Knodl wins, it would give Republicans a supermajority in the state Senate, meaning it would be easier to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

--Daniel Bice

6:15 p.m. City of Green Bay borrows voting machine after a malfunction

The city of Green Bay had to borrow a voting machine from Brown County after the one at the Green Bay Botanical Garden malfunctioned, City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys said during her 4 p.m. update.

The voting machine was not working, so that was replaced with another machine, which didn't work. That machine was replaced by a third voting machine and that one didn't work, so the city borrowed one from the county, Jeffreys said.

"Those machines had been serviced so we have to take a much more close look after this election as to whether or not we need to purchase a new machine and exactly how we can ensure that does not happen again. It's the same problem we've been having at that ward for a couple different election cycles," she said.

The city is seeing a "very robust" turnout for an April election, Jeffreys said.

Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich is in a close battle with challenger Chad Weininger for the seat.

--Pete Frank

1:50 p.m.: Voters in Madison continue to cast their ballots

As of 11 a.m., 39,859 ballots had been cast in Madison on Tuesday, according to the city clerk’s office.

That number included 14,206 absentee ballots and six provisional ballots.

Prior to Election Day, more than 35,000 absentee ballots were returned in Madison and well over 16,000 people voted in-person absentee.

Absentee ballots must be handed in before the polls close at 8 p.m., according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

— Lawrence Andrea

1:15 p.m.: Voters cite cash bail, abortion and schools as major issues in Supreme Court and school board races

At James Madison Academic Campus in Milwaukee, voter Trameika Sanders, who works as a safety assistant for MPS, said she came to vote on issues of abortion, cash bail and schools. She said she backed Missy Zombor for school board to “fight for our rights,” including PTO and sick time. Voter Therese Cheski said she came to vote mostly to support Dan Kelly on the issue of abortion, but also voted for Jeff Spence and Shandowlyon Hendricks Reaves for school board because she said they seemed less liberal, and she saw the “pro-life community” backing Spence.

Inside, chief inspector Aaron Blathers said he’s worried about storms later in the day but turnout has been good so far. He said there was a technology issue early in the morning that cause their machine to not take ballots. The poll workers kept the ballots in a locked drawer of the machine, under the watch of an election observer, and were able to then count the ballots when an election official fixed the issue with the machine. Everything has been going smoothly since, he said.

— Rory Linnane

12:10 p.m.: Voters cast ballot at Milwaukee German Immersion School

Rain started coming down outside the Milwaukee German Immersion School polling place around 11:30. Chief inspectors Paul Williams and Addison Coy said turnout had been high and consistent all morning, though they worried about the afternoon weather impacting turnout. They saw nearly 250 voters by 11:30.

Milwaukee Treasurer Spencer Coggs, after voting at Milwaukee German Immersion School, said he voted for his friend Jeff Spence for school board, saying he trusted his character from Spence’s previous time on the board.

“I think he put thought into his stances and I think he had good basis for what he believed,” Coggs said. “Even though there are some policies that we disagreed on, I thought for the most part he was a dedicated public servant.”

Coggs said he also voted for Erika Siemsen for school board and hadn’t heard about Pamela Holmes’ write-in campaign against her.

Coggs said he hopes the school board pursues “as full a curriculum as possible” for students, including the arts and drivers education.

— Rory Linnane

12:00 p.m.: Green Bay clerk: Good turnout, absentee ballots still coming in

Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys said voters already have returned 6,900 absentee ballots with more being dropped off on Tuesday morning.

In a Facebook video posted at 11 a.m., Jeffreys said there are about 900 absentee ballots still out and called Election Day voter turnout good. Jeffreys also said a broken optical scanner at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens took some time to fix, but is working now.

— Jeff Bollier, Green Bay Press Gazette

11:45 a.m.: Voters cast ballots in Fox Point and Bayside

At Fox Point’s polling place, located at 7300 N Santa Monica Blvd, voters have been keeping election workers very busy this morning, said chief inspector Linda Settler.

“There’s a lot at stake,” she said.

As of 10:30 a.m., there’s been no issues and things are running smoothly, and about 800 voters had already cast their ballot, she added.

One voter said he’s lived in Fox Point for 17 years and cares about the Supreme Court race.

“I vote in every election,” said Steve Elliott. “Dan Kelly was a perfectly good lawyer, but he’s not going to make the kind of decisions that I would want.”

In Bayside, Voters are steadily making their way into the polling place, as of around 10 a.m., located at 9075 N. Regent Road. Things are running smoothly and the site is ready if they should lose power due to the storm, said chief inspector Margaret Zitzer.

As of around 10 a.m. about 685 voters had cast their ballot.

“This is my community, and I want to have a say,” said voter Cheryl Pivar, who recently moved back to Bayside, where she grew up. She said the referendum questions inspired her to vote in this election. “We have to protect ourselves.”

— Alex Groth

11 a.m.: Sherman Park voters turn out for court race, weigh in on school board

At the Mary Ryan Boys and Girls Club in Sherman Park, Arlene Williams said she didn’t know much about the school board race but turned out to vote for the court race. Asked why, she turned to her granddaughter Corinne, who said, “Women should have the right to say what they do with their body, period.”Larry Curry, a sheet metal worker for MPS, came to vote primarily in the court race but also supported school board candidates Missy Zombor and Gabi Hart, partly because Zombor visited his house and he agreed with her flier, and because both were backed by the teachers union.Frank Finch III said he supported Jeff Spence and Darryl Jackson after interviewing candidates with a group he is part of, Common Ground. He said he thought the candidates would be more independent from the teachers’ union. His top issues were retaining principals and teachers, and more security in schools.Another voter, Allen Neuwirth, backed Spence and Jackson. He said too many MPS buildings are unoccupied and could be used for charter schools, and he wanted more focus on the trades.

— Rory Linnane

10:20 a.m.: Downtown Milwaukee polling place sees steady stream of voters

Poll workers at the Zeidler Municipal Building voting location in downtown Milwaukee said that voting has been steady since opening with 101 voters as of 10 a.m. at the site. The location has also been a popular spot for early voters with workers saying there is usually an increase around the lunch hour.

— Beck Andrew Salgado

8:30 a.m.: Wisconsin voters are urged to get to the polls before severe weather and ice move in across the state

After severe weather brought 12 tornadoes and strong thunderstorms to southern Wisconsin last week, experts at the National Weather Service have predicted another round of storms to move into Wisconsin on the evening of election day in Wisconsin.

Voters in the Madison, Milwaukee, and Waukesha areas should be aware that smaller storms are expected to start rolling in around 11 a.m. These early scattered storms are expected to just bring rain but could also bring hail as big as an inch.

Severe weather in southern Wisconsin is not expected to roll in until later this afternoon. Voters should make it a point to get to the polls before 4 p.m. if they want to stay dry and before 5 p.m. if they want to avoid peak severe weather periods.

The risk for severe weather is highest in areas like Madison, Janesville and parts of Waukesha County. These areas have the highest chances of seeing damaging wind, and damaging hail — there is a chance that far southwest Wisconsin could see some tornadoes.

Areas northeast of there, like Milwaukee, Sheboygan and Oshkosh, also have a chance to see severe weather, though the possibility is lower in these areas.

Green Bay and Appleton will see thunderstorms on Tuesday but severe weather is largely expected to avoid the region. And way up north Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas and Iron counties are under an ice storm watch which kicks in this evening.

The polls close at 8 p.m., but you won't want to be standing in line at 8, in rain or stormy weather. Vote early.

— Beck Andrew Salgado

When are polls open for the Wisconsin April 4 election?

Voting takes place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All eligible voters in line at 8 p.m. will be able to vote.

How do I find out what's on my ballot?

You can go to myvote.wi.gov and enter your address in the What's On My Ballot page to see your list of races.

How do I find my polling place?

You also can find your polling location at myvote.wi.gov.

Wisconsin 2023 spring election: How to register, where to vote and what's on the ballot

Analysis: What April's Supreme Court election may tell us about the 2024 partisan races in Wisconsin

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 2023 Wisconsin election: Voters back more requirements for welfare