In the first election in 2017, the great people of the City of Madison have been busy shattering all previous records for early voting in spring elections.
When one thinks about big, exciting times to engage in democracy, few people have historically thought about the month of February. Certainly, people haven’t historically thought much of in-person early voting in spring non-presidential primary elections in February. We know this is true because these February elections typically turn out so few people across the city that feel compelled to early vote.
For reference, historically large early turnout numbers for February primaries were the following:
◆ February 2011: 686 in-person early absentee ballots were cast. (People were uniquely motivated in conjunction with the protests on the square.)
◆ February 2016: 793 in-person early absentee ballots were cast. (You may recall that many residents expected the presidential primary to be on this ballot.)
◆ February 2008: 1,777 in-person early absentee ballots were cast. (There was indeed a presidential primary, where we were preparing to elect the 44th President of the United States.)
Now in February of 2017 with 2,875 in-person early absentee ballots cast already in Madison, we’ve absolutely blown away all of these previous early voting records.
With no presidential primary, nor recall election movement, nor issue question on the ballot, it begs the question – what is happening here in Madison to see such unusually high early vote numbers?
I believe there are two major contributing factors to the civic engagement that we are witnessing.
Put simply, people are motivated to be a part of the local resistance to what they see happening on the national political stage right now. It is essential that people in our city continue to feel a sense of agency over their own destiny, despite whoever the president or governor is at the moment. The overwhelming turnout at the Madison Woman’s March, the success of recent grassroots organizing efforts such as my Leading Locally movement, and the early voting activity in this primary election are all evidence that people are very actively taking responsibility for shaping their community. Local politics seems to matter more to our democracy than ever before, and our population is clearly tuned into this reality.
It is also noteworthy that it is easier to vote early in Madison than it ever has been in the past. Thanks to the City Clerk and the Clerk’s amazing staff of employees and volunteers, the Madison Common Council made the decision this past September to ensure that our city has the most aggressive early voting policy in all of Wisconsin. Early voting is now available for two weeks, at over a dozen locations, including nine public libraries.
Similarly, I authored and passed a resolution last year that created a semi-automatic voter registration process. Each time a person interacts with the city and is sharing or receiving official documents, they are presented with an invitation to register to vote. Madison is dedicated to maximizing our number of registered voters, extending the number of days for voting, and making it as practical as possible for people to vote. This is a commitment to supporting democracy that I hope serves as a model for other communities across the state and across the country.
Don’t forget to vote this Tuesday, Feb 21st, and then in the general spring election on April 4th, or vote early in the two weeks leading up to April 4th.
Now, this is what democracy looks like.
