Three elections in three months is too many

They’re still not done playing politics in Madison. State lawmakers are considering adopting new rules to restrict the powers of Governor-elect Tony Evers, before he even takes office. Now there is an effort to move the date of the 2020 spring primary election, in an effort to bolster the candidacy of an incumbent member of the state Supreme Court who is running for re-election. As it currently stands, there is an primary election in February of 2020, with the general election scheduled for April of that year. That April election would see voters making their choices in the presidential preference primary as well as the Supreme court seat of incumbent Daniel Kelly, an appointee of outgoing Governor Scott Walker. Now the republicans in power in Madison want to move the date of the presidential primary up a month, to March, to blunt the impact of an expected high democratic turnout in that election when voters will choose who they want to run for President as a democrat. Changing the date of the primary would mean voters in Wisconsin would be asked to head to the polls in three consecutive months. Clerks throughout the state, including in La Crosse County, warn that such a move would lead to confusion among voters, and would greatly increase costs, by millions of dollars. It would also greatly increase the workload of clerks throughout the state. The idea of moving the election is not being done to benefit voters, or to save taxpayer’s money. It is simply an effort to protect the seat of one Republican Supreme Court justice. That is not good government. It is simply playing politics to benefit one party over another.