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Whereas turnout in La Crosse County for spring elections for city council, county supervisor, school board, even mayor generally tops out at 25 to 30 percent, presidential race turnout can often reach stratospheric levels of 70 to 75 percent.
Wisconsin has encouraged voting by enacting lenient voter residency requirements and same-day registration. Virtually anyone moving into the La Crosse area can pretty much register and vote right away.
This is especially convenient for our younger, mobile, college students at UW-L, Viterbo, and Western Technical College who attend school and live in La Crosse while completing their programs. Generally speaking, polling data tell us that younger voters (18- 21) are the least likely to vote. But like the rest of the electorate, they often turn out to vote for one election, especially presidential races.
Tough economic conditions, the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the historic candidacies of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin have created intense interest in this race on our local campuses. Turnout there may very well reach record levels.
Idealist college professors like Keith Knutson at Viterbo will no doubt celebrate this huge influx of newbie voters seeing absolutely no downside. But what if these same young, enthusiastic presidential race voters, who are often temporary residents, vote in massive numbers on strictly local issues like the La Crosse school bond issue that will raise local property taxes? Anything wrong with that?
Many older, permanent city residents have expressed chagrin at the notion of the campus vote affecting the outcome of local school referendums. They wonder if there is a way to restrict such temporary residents from voting on strictly local tax issues.
Unless you want to rescind and revise the 18-year-old vote amendment and Wisconsin voting laws, legally no. But I would sympathize with these complaints about “transient” voters to this extent: Are they always casting the most informed vote possible on important local issues they have a lesser stake and interest in?
I remember voting in college in the 1976 Illinois presidential primary because it was more convenient to vote in Evanston where I went to school than to cast an absentee ballot or return home to Milwaukee. I also remember confronting an array of local judicial and city races along with a bond issue on that same ballot.
I was really there to vote for Jimmy Carter and had cursory interest or knowledge of these local races and issues. I considered voting on them but decided to take a pass because I felt it would be unfair to local residents to do so. I knew I was not going to live in Evanston — I was there to attend school.
I think this is a generally good policy for all voters, but especially those who think they’re not going to stay long in the place they find themselves voting in.
If you have more connection and interest in your hometown races and issues, consider voting an absentee ballot or skip over local ballot items you don’t feel interested in or knowledgeable about.
As far as the La Crosse school referendum itself, we’re seeing tough economic times — high gas prices, flat home values, tight credit. Many have legitimately asked, “Is this the best time to ask for a property tax increase?”
This will be a very serious vote for
La Crosse homeowners and parents. Whatever the outcome, all voters, regardless of background should take ample time to thoroughly inform themselves before deciding to weigh in.
Steve Gores is a political activist and co-founder of the Lacrossewatchdog, a local conservative blog.
