4/03/12 SPRING ELECTION DAY IN WISCONSIN

ANOTHER COOL, GRAY MORNING

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  40 degrees F, wind W, moderate wit stronger gusts.  The sky is mostly overcast and that is the barometer’s prediction.  It is a cool, rather windy day, not the most pleasant.  I worked in the yard most of yesterday and am not overly stiff and sore, but I have days of work still to do and may yet pay the price. 
    Buddy is scheduled to go to the vet this afternoon to be tested for heart worm and then I can put him on a monthly preventive pill.  He will also need a Lyme’s  disease test and probably some other shots as well.
    As I wrote yesterday, today is the Wisconsin spring election.  On the ballot are the Republican presidential hopefuls. There are no Democratic presidential primary candidates but if there were, they would be on the ballot as well and any registered voter could vote for one candidate from any party, One does not need to be a member of a political party to vote for that party’s candidate in Wisconsin.
    There are pros and cons to such a completely open vote.  It gives all voters a voice, but also allows them to cross over to vote in another party’ selection process, and that can sway the outcome of the race in a party one does not belong to. I personally think it better that every political party should control completely which candidates it puts forward for the general election, which would also encourage more people to be serious about their political affiliations and their choices for candidates.
    Wisconsin has 49 votes for the Republican nomination, and the winner takes them all so it is an important state in the presidential primary. Wisconsin is also considered an unpredictable “swing state,” so how well a candidate does here now and the size of the turnout for the Republican candidates is an important indicator in the fall presidential race.
    There are other state and local issues on the Wisconsin ballot, which may be different in each voting precinct.  In Bayfield there is also an uncontested race for a local judgeship (the incumbent has no opposition) and an election for representative on the County Board (two opposing candidates).
    As I indicated yesterday, we will vote for Romney in the presidential primary.  At least I will; Joan has said she will as well, but who knows what anyone does once they are in the voting booth.  Also, this was to be the first election to require a picture I.D. to cast a ballot, a measure I wholeheartedly support, as Wisconsin has had its share of voter fraud, but it is tied up in the courts and will not be in place for this election.