Turnout for the Supreme Court primary election set a record. Here's what we know about Tuesday's voting.
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Wisconsin's primary election had one statewide race on the ballot, but the Supreme Court contest was enough to draw nearly 21% of the voting age population to the polls.
On Tuesday more than 960,000 votes were cast, a 36% increase from the last record set in 2020 when about 705,000 people voted in that year's Supreme Court primary that also featured the Democratic presidential primary, Marquette Law School pollster Charles Franklin said.
Here's what we know.
How many people voted in the last Supreme Court primaries?
The three most recent Wisconsin Supreme Court primaries did not exceed 20%, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. 2020: 16.06%2018: 12.12%2016: 12.96%
Statewide, liberal candidates got the most votes
Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz and former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly emerged Tuesday as the two winners of the primary. But combined, Protasiewicz and the second liberal candidate, Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell, received the most votes.
Statewide, the two liberal candidates received 54% of the total votes.
Kelly and the second conservative candidate, Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow, got 46%.
More:Janet Protasiewicz, Daniel Kelly advance in high stakes, high-spending Supreme Court race
Protasiewicz wins Ozaukee County, but conservative candidates perform well in the WOW counties
The WOW counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington), once a reliable red voting bloc, continued a trend of turning a tinge more purple Tuesday.
In Ozaukee County, Protasiewicz got 8,770 votes, beating Dorow by about 1,000 votes, but Charles Franklin cautioned not to put too much weight on the victory. Combined, Dorow and Kelly got about 12,400 votes, or 57%.
"If you put the conservatives together, they had a relatively good night in the WOW counties," Franklin said. "They did better than (GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim) Michels did if you combine their totals."
In Waukesha County, the conservative candidates got 64% of the votes. Kelly and Dorow got 72% in Washington County, healthy margins but not the landslide figures that have powered Republicans in past statewide elections.
Dane County had higher voting power than Milwaukee County
In Dane County 35.9% of registered voters, or 139,971 people, went to the polls on Tuesday compared to 25.8% of registered voters in Milwaukee County, or 133,979.
People stayed home in northern Wisconsin
While turnout across most of the state was up 36%, voter turnout declined in northern Wisconsin, Franklin said.
North of Wausau and west to the Minnesota border in cities including Rhinelander, Ashland and Superior turnout was equal or less than it was in spring 2020.
The fall-off of voters in northern Wisconsin could be a bad sign for Republicans, who have counted on those votes in recent elections to offset Democratic gains in the suburbs. But Franklin said primary elections are much different than the general.
Still, razor thin margins in recent races continue to show every Wisconsin vote counts.
Corrinne Hess can be reached at chess@gannett.com or on Twitter @corrihess.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Supreme Court primary election generated record turnout
