Constitutional amendments top of mind among voters in Wisconsin’s August primary

Wisconsinites cast ballots Tuesday on two constitutional amendments that would give state legislators more control over how federal money is spent in the state.

A slew of legislative primaries after redistricting and a contested primary in Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District are also on the ballot. 

In Eau Claire, Lauri Rometti said she voted in favor of both amendments. She said she doesn’t want the governor to have sole power to decide how to use federal funds, and that she would have voted the same way if the current governor was a Republican. 

“I don’t like to see the sole power of allocating funds just to the governor, to have that power just in his hands. I wanted to see it allocated over the Legislative part of it, too. So it was more of a consensus on how the money should be spent,” she said. 

Rometti said she plans to vote for Eric Hovde for U.S. Senate in November. And she’ll vote based on policy preferences rather than personalities when supporting former President Donald Trump and Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden in November.

“My big things are … immigration, inflation and Israel, and I’m looking at who’s gonna be strong on that. And I think it’s Donald Trump,” she said. 

Joseph Laabs, a third grade teacher at the Milwaukee Academy of Science charter school, spread the word about the constitutional amendments at work.

“I kind of spread it around my school. I don’t think a lot of people really knew that that was on the ballot,” he said.

In Madison, Mary Thayer was one of several voters who said the language of the constitutional amendments was confusing.

“I read it 16 times and I still didn’t know what they were trying to say. I was advised by some of the people that keep track of that better, and I was able to determine what I felt was right,” Thayer said. 

She had already decided to vote against the amendments when she got a text message Tuesday morning encouraging her to vote yes. 

“Don’t let right wing governors like Scott Walker spend federal aid without oversight,” the text message said with an image of the former Republican governor. 

The two constitutional amendments are backed by Republicans in response to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ use of federal COVID-19 dollars. 

“I don’t even know who sent that text, but if I hadn’t gotten the others, you know, it might have swayed me. It’s just the (language) is just so convoluted,” Thayer said. 

Dan Metcalf of Eau Claire also struggled with the language of the ballot measures. He said he generally votes for Democrats, but thought the measures seemed like a good idea.

“I think it’s more fair to have a check and balance government. So this will — instead of having one person be like a king or something like that — there’s going to be another one or two other bodies that are also going to throw in their ideas or whatever, too, instead of giving it to one individual,” he said. 

But Meltcalf, who spoke to WPR after casting his ballot, said he voted against the measures, initially misunderstanding what outcome that would bring. 

Polls will remain open across the state until 8 p.m. Tuesday. Any voter in line at 8 p.m. will be able to vote.