There's a lot on the line in Wisconsin

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Disclaimer: The FFRF Action Fund, which I am closely associated with as a contributing writer for FFRF and former FFRF staff member, has endorsed Susan Crawford for Wisconsin Supreme Court. I was in no way involved in that decision, but if you want to read more about it, you can find its endorsement here. 

I am not a journalist and my work should never be considered a source of unbiased reporting, nor have I ever claimed it to be, but I still highly value transparency. I think it’s important that when people are making decisions on how to vote they know the biases of their sources and that that information is given up front. Please refer to multiple sources when doing research on candidates and issues, and remember you are allowed to bring reference material into the voting booth with you.

When I moved from southern Indiana to Wisconsin a couple of years ago, I expected a few things to be different. 

I anticipated that there would be more snow in the winter and that massive fried pork tenderloin sandwiches would not be anywhere near as ubiquitous. I anticipated the amount of cheese, and at least somewhat predicted the amount of beer that would be everywhere up here. What I didn’t necessarily anticipate, however, was just how much higher the stakes for elections would be up here.

Indiana is not a state that people generally think matters in the grand scheme of national elections. It’s fallen to the self-fulfilling prophecy of most midwestern and southern states being written off as a mega conservative stronghold that flips blue maybe once in a generation. So moving to a so-called “swing-state” that people look at when determining the fate of the country has been a major political culture shock. These days it feels like my phone is going off non-stop, and the feeling that “election season” is no longer a limited season is more and more of a reality. Especially right now, as we are approaching the spring election on April 1, my mailbox, email, text messages, and more are full to the brim with campaign efforts, particularly in regards to the state Supreme Court election.

Now that was another shock to my system. Indiana does not elect state Supreme Court justices outright. Instead the judges are first appointed by the governor, and then the people vote whether to retain them every two years. So you can imagine my surprise during my first Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2023, in which interest groups and other donors spent somewhere in the ballpark of $56 million in the race between liberal Janet Protaciewicz and conservative Daniel Kelley. With reproductive, LGBTQIA+, and voter rights on the line, along with potential ramifications for the entire country, the 2023 election was the most expensive state judicial race in history. Clearly the spending paid off, as Justice Protaciewicz, who out spent her opponent managed to win, allowing the country to breathe at least a momentary sigh of relief.

Given how much more seems to be at stake this time around, it’s no surprise that spending on the 2025 judicial election, this time between liberal Susan Crawford and conservative Brad Schimel, is already running up around $59 million in spending, breaking the 2023 record.

But where is all of this money coming from? Well on Schimel’s end, a ton of that money is coming from Elon Musk – more specifically his “America” and “Building America’s Future” PACs – which according to a recent filing to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission and tracking by WiscPolitics have spent $6.2 million and $6 million on canvassing and advertising efforts respectively. Musk has a very specific reason for pouring money into this election. Wisconsin currently has legislation banning the opening of “factory dealerships,” which are a type of car dealership in which consumers place an order for a vehicle to the factory to be built, rather than your more typical dealership where you would drive a pre-built car off the lot.

I’ll give you three guesses as to what Tesla dealerships qualify as under Wisconsin law.

But car dealerships aren’t the only reason Musk and other Conservatives are funneling money into Schimel’s campaign. A former Wisconsin Attorney General and current Waukesha County Circuit Judge, Schmiel’s politics make him a dream candidate for American Conservatives. A pro forced-birth candidate, Schmiel has gone on the record stating that he believes there is no right to abortion in the Wisconsin state constitution, and supports the enforcement of the 1849 ban, which does not have exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. He also worked to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights (with the exception of police and firefighters’ unions), has defended Wisconsin’s overly gerrymandered electoral maps that have been deemed unconstitutional, claims to be tough on crime (while massively delaying the processing of thousands of rape kits), and as Attorney General sued the federal government in an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In a limited sample of his Conservative street cred, Schimel has endorsements from Pro-Life Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Police and Professional Fire Fighters’ Associations, multiple county Sheriffs, Americans for Prosperity- Wisconsin, and a gaggle of conservative politicians.

On Crawford’s end, much of her finances are coming from the state Democratic party including cash donated to the party by Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker and progressive mega-donor George Soros. While Supreme Court elections are supposedly “nonpartisan,” political parties and individuals are allowed to donate as they see fit, so long as they follow all of the respective laws and transparency regulations. Overall she has spent less on this election than Schimel, something that makes some progressives nervous in a political climate where cash is king, but she is running far more broadcast advertisements than Schimel. Anecdotally I can tell you that I have only received paper advertisements for Crawford, but that very much might be that Schimel has written off my neighborhood, a firmly liberal one on Madison’s isthmus, as a wash and does not want to waste the resources on mailing campaign materials here.

Just as Schimel carries many of the modern Conservative hallmarks, Crawford is a solidly progressive candidate. A current Dane County Circuit Court judge and former Assistant Attorney General, Crawford started her career as a prosecutor, and has taken high profile criminal cases to the state Supreme Court. She has a strong record on abortion, having represented Planned Parenthood in the past, and has indicated that she intends to maintain that record. Looking to worker’s rights, Crawford represented public school teachers during efforts to remove their collective bargaining rights. While working for the Wisconsin League of Women Voters, she fought the state’s overly gerrymandered electoral maps which have been ruled unconstitutional by multiple federal judges. And while she’s had less of a direct government impact than her opponent, her record of working with Planned Parenthood indicates a willingness to fight for accessible and affordable healthcare for Wisconsinites.

In addition to the FFRF Action Fund, Crawford’s endorsements include Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Reproductive Freedom For All, 5 current and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices, Senator Tammy Baldwin, multiple Sheriffs across the state, more than 50 law enforcement leaders and judges, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, and the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

This Supreme Court race is, in no small terms, a big deal. In a moment in history where state politics are becoming more and more the centerpiece of civil rights strategy and the federal court system becomes more and more difficult to navigate, state judiciaries are the most important that they’ve been in over a century. And in a state where voting rights and access to elections can make or break a presidential race for the entire country, everyone needs to be concerned about the outcome of this election.

But while most Wisconsinites are being inundated with information on this race (for good reason) there’s another key point on the ballot that we need to be concerned about: Question 1. A proposed amendment to the state constitution, the question reads as follows:

Question 1: “Photographic identification for voting. Shall section 1m of article III of the constitution be created to require that voters present valid photographic identification verifying their identity in order to vote in any election, subject to exceptions which may be established by law?"

To many voters, this may seem like a reasonable amendment, after all, we all want to make sure our elections are fair and free of fraud. In fact, Wisconsin election law already requires voters to present valid photo ID in order to vote. The immediate practical effect of enshrining this requirement into the Wisconsin constitution would be negligible, as nothing would change from how our elections currently operate. But by making it a part of the state constitution, we would be making it exceedingly difficult to alter the law to provide greater access to Wisconsin voters who have difficulties accessing acceptable forms of ID to vote.

Voter ID laws like Wisconsin’s disproportionately disenfranchise Black people, Native people, Latines, disabled people, the elderly, students/first time voters, unhoused voters, and voters otherwise living in poverty. While Wisconsin does have a free voter ID program where voters can get a photo ID specifically for voting, it still requires voters to have the time, paperwork, and other resources to acquire one. In order to receive one of these ID’s, you have to physically go to the DMV, and ideally be able to prove a proof of name and date of birth (like a birth certificate), a proof of ID (Social Security Card, Medicaid/Medicare Card), proof of Wisconsin residency, proof of U.S. Citizenship, and a Social Security number. While there are forms to help eligible residents who may not have all of those documents available, that still assumes that they are able to fill out said forms, or are aware that the forms, or this program generally, exists in the first place. 1-in-10 eligible voters across the country do not have easy access to the documentation necessary to show proof of citizenship. 

Wisconsin’s current law is one of the strictest in the nation, with the state as the fifth most difficult state to vote in according to the Cost of Voting Index. Meanwhile, voter impersonation, which is the only type of voter fraud that photo ID requirements can prevent, is beyond rare. It is so rare, in fact, that from 2000-2012 there were only 31 credible cases out of over a billion ballots cast during that time period.

This constitutional referendum comes at a time where on both the state and federal level we are seeing attacks on the right to vote with the intention to disenfranchise anyone who is not a cisgender, white, able bodied man who was born in the United States. Just look at the Republican backed SAVE Act that has made news in recent weeks, which would require Americans to not only swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens when registering to vote (on top of their individual state’s ID requirements), but also to provide documentation when registering. This can cause major problems for trans people, immigrants, women who changed their name when getting married, or really anyone who has ever had to make changes to their documentation for any reason, as not only would they need to provide their birth certificate/certificate of naturalization, social security information, and ID, but also every piece of paperwork that shows the process of how these documents changed. Every single time someone moves or registers with a new political party they would have to provide all of these documents again. These types of laws don’t solve the problem that they claim to solve. Much like voter impersonation, all types of voter fraud is rare, especially non-citizen voting, and our elections have secure systems to deal with it. Instead these efforts stoak fear in the American political consciousness and sow distrust in the validity of our elections, while preventing marginalized Americans of all stripes from being able to access the ballot. Politics are never happening in a vacuum, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the SAVE Act and the current Wisconsin referendum are a part of the same voter disenfranchisement movement.

Even if you don’t live in Wisconsin, the spring election is one to watch. Until there is major reform of the electoral college that makes Wisconsin’s impact on the nation’s elections once again reasonable, these two issues will determine a lot of things for the entire country for possibly decades to come. If you do live in Wisconsin, make sure you have your voting plan figured out, and vote early if you can. Talk to your friends and family and neighbors about these issues. Volunteer if you are able, whether that’s for a candidate or as a poll watcher. As disillusioned as I and many other feel right now, voting is still important as harm reduction in conjunction with other forms of activism and advocacy. We cannot stop caring.

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Kat (they/them) is a queer lawyer, activist, and theorist focusing on the intersections of law, queerness, religion, and politics, with the occasional bit of theology, political theory, and legal theory thrown in for good measure. Originally from rural southern Indiana, Kat earned their B.A. in Political Science in 2019 before continuing on to earn their J.D. in 2022, both from Indiana University- Bloomington. A former Equal Justice Works Fellow for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Kat has spent their professional career fighting for the separation of church and state and LGBTQIA+ rights. Outside of work you can find them at a ballet or contemporary dance class, sipping on dirty shirleys at their local gay bar, or playing video games with their cat, Merlin.