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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Strong voter turnout in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Robust turnout across Wisconsin’s six state Senate districts Tuesday has election officials forecasting final ballot counts reaching 2010 levels, if not presidential-year levels.
And both sides are, not surprisingly, encouraged by the steady and strong traffic at the polls, signaling what could produce a series of nail-biting finishes in at least half of the recall races.

“High turnout bodes well for Republicans. Everyone talks about the unions. What has been missed in all of this is the strength and support from our side and the enthusiasm is very high,” said former GOP Rep. Mark Neumann, a 2010 gubernatorial candidate who is mulling a 2012 Senate contest.
But Democrats were also pointing to pockets of data and anecdotes to demonstrate that they are well within striking distance of picking up the three seats needed to capture control of the state Senate.
In the key battleground of Senate District 8, in which state Rep. Sandy Pasch is attempting to upend 20-year GOP incumbent Sen. Alberta Darling, Democratic poll watchers said turnout in their key precincts were on pace to match the 2010 general election, with some precincts on pace to hit 70 percent or higher.
But turnout also appeared to be high in the eastern, more affluent, part of the district, which should benefit Darling.
“Turnout high in Germantown, Richfield, which benefits Republicans,” said Brian Sikma, the spokesman for Media Trackers, a conservative nonprofit watchdog in Wisconsin. “Senate District 8 is a seat the GOP could hold on to.”
The largest city in Senate District 14, a mostly rural area spanning 45 miles north of Madison eastward to the suburbs of Green Bay, was also humming with a stream of voters.
By midday, the three polling stations in Baraboo were reporting ballot counts that were approaching levels achieved during the 2010 general election.
“I’m number 582 and usually I’m in the 300s,” said a woman leaving the East School gymnasium.
A polling place worker confirmed, “It’s been heavy. we get 40 to 50 each half-hour.”
Josh Wolf, campaign manager for Democratic Rep. Fred Clark said he was heartened by numbers, calling Baraboo “our hub.”
Jason Wolf, campaign manager for Democratic Rep. Fred Clark said he was heartened by numbers, calling Baraboo “our hub.”
If Democrats are to take over the state Senate, they will most likely need a win from Pasch or Clark, who is attempting to oust Sen. Luther Olsen.
While there haven’t been any widespread problems reported, Sikma claimed that members of Wisconsin Jobs Now, a Democratic-aligned group, were escorting people into Milwaukee polling places wearing T-shirts with their organization’s logo.
“It is against the law for them to wear their shirts into a polling place. Poll workers were asking them to not do this but were apparently having trouble enforcing the rules,” said Sikma.
A spokesman for Wisconsin Jobs did not immediately return an inquiry seeking comment.
But even Sikma acknowledged it was hard to read too much into individual precincts and anecdotes.
“We’re just in a very, very unique political environment that is uncharted waters for even Wisconsin,” he said.

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