Almost everyone who casts a ballot in this November’s general election will do so to vote for president. But there are other issues that are getting short shrift.
I certainly understand why the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is the motivating factor for just about everybody. There’s a stark contrast between the candidates, it’s an extremely tight race and Wisconsin could decide the whole election. And, while they’re there, voters will choose between Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde for U.S. Senate, also a close and important race with two very different candidates.
But, as a result, there are local issues on this ballot that will get lost in the national political drama. These issues really should not be on this ballot, but rather on the April ballot, where local issues traditionally are decided.
For Dane County voters these local issues include a race for county executive and several local school and city spending referendums.
I wish Joe Parisi had finished the four-year term to which he was elected, but when he decided to step down early he should have timed it in a way that set up the election to replace him next spring, when we normally vote on that office. As it is, the race between Melissa Agard and Dana Pellebon has been all but totally subsumed by the presidential and Senate contests.
County executive is a vitally important office, overseeing social services, land use outside of cities and villages, water quality issues, transportation, our justice system, including the jail, and a lot more. And yet what does the average voter know about the positions of either of the candidates? What might they disagree on? How do their priorities differ? Who is better qualified based on their backgrounds?
What’s likely to happen is that Agard will win going away simply because of name recognition as she has held a Dane County state Senate seat for several years. Maybe that’s fine. I don’t have a strong preference for either candidate, but I might have gained one had I been able to learn more about them in a high-profile contest that put them to the test.
Then there are the taxing referendums. Madison voters will face three, an operating and capital question for the schools plus a first-ever operating budget referendum for the city. Monona, Fitchburg and Maple Bluff will also have operating questions on the ballot and school districts in DeForest, Marshall, McFarland, Mount Horeb and Sun Prairie will join Madison in asking voters to exceed state imposed taxing limits.
These are big asks — the MMSD amounts are the highest in history — and they deserve full debate. And yet, how much do voters know about the important details of these questions?
I think it’s fair to say that local governments put these questions on the November ballot largely because they know that a presidential race will draw out lots of voters who know little about local issues. (In fairness, there are some budget timing issues as well.) And since the county will vote overwhelmingly for Harris, these are voters who are likely to vote in favor of the school questions simply because they instinctively support public schools. I’m less sure about the city questions, but they’re likely to pass as well.
I favor the city of Madison referendum while I oppose the MMSD questions. But that is based on the details behind the questions, details that I fear few voters are aware of. If you asked me to vote up or down simply on my support for public education, I would vote ‘yes’ on the school questions as well. It’s only my deep dive into the district’s spending and performance that led me in another direction.
There’s a reason that we usually separate partisan and state and national office races from local contests. We shouldn’t want local offices and referendums to get overwhelmed by the state and national races. But that’s exactly what’s happening this time. And, unfortunately, I think some of that was by design.
Dave Cieslewicz is a Madison- and Upper Peninsula-based writer who served as mayor of Madison from 2003 to 2011. You can read more of his work at Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos.
