Primary To Narrow State Superintendent Race To 2

When Wisconsinites head to the polls for the primary election Tuesday, they’ll only see one statewide contested race on the ballot: state schools superintendent.

John Humphries, Dodgeville School District’s director of state and federal programs and a former consultant, and Lowell Holtz, a former superintendent at Whitnall, Beloit and Palmyra-Eagle school districts and Wisconsin elementary school principal of the year, are challenging incumbent Superintendent Tony Evers to lead the state Department of Public Instruction.

Humphries and Holtz have boasted their respective experiences in a variety of school districts and have said their leadership will be more conservative than Evers’, who is seeking a third term in the nonpartisan position.

Rick Melcher, a high school math teacher in Racine, is running as a write-in candidate.

The campaign for Wisconsin’s top education position took a turn for the dramatic last week when Humphries alleged Holtz proposed one of the two guarantee the other a $150,000 state job in exchange for dropping out of the race before the primary. Holtz shot back, saying the two met only to talk about possible cooperation after the election.

Unlike the November presidential election, voters will likely cruise through their polling places, as the state Elections Commission broke with tradition and didn’t even predict a voter turnout for the primary. In the previous three primaries for state schools superintendent, turnout was less than 6 percent of the voting population, according to The Associated Press.

The two candidates with the most votes Tuesday will move on to the April 4 general election.

Aside from casting a vote for state schools superintendent, voters could see local races and referendums on the ballot.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler is up for re-election, but Ziegler does not face a primary as she is running unopposed for her second 10-year term on the court. Polls are open statewide from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. A valid photo ID is required to vote.