April 4th Election

April 4th is election day, and this could be one of the "most important" elections to you. How many times have you heard these words in ads and features? Well, many may not even know what this election is for, so we cannot dismiss it.

This may not be a U.S. election, but is a Wisconsin and Oregon election, for this election dictates the next Wisconsin Supreme Court judge for the next decade. The court majority is on the line, and your vote also gives you a voice.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be held between conservative judge Dan Kelly, who has served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court previously, and liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz. A supreme court judge in Wisconsin holds their term for 10 years and weighs in on major state issues, currently, the most immediate issue facing the supreme court is likely to be reproductive rights, followed by redistricting cases brought against counties in Wisconsin and Affirmative Action {1} in Wisconsin Schools.

           On the issue of abortion, Protasiewicz said “In addition to independence, you bring your values to the court every day… values leading me to believe that a woman’s right to make decisions over her own body should be just that, not made by the government but made by the person who’s ultimately being affected by them.”  

Kelly said everyone knows this procedure "takes the life of an unborn child." But he said pro-choice groups still favor making abortion legal. "Why? To preserve sexual libertinism" — or, more bluntly, to let people have sex whenever they want." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Kelly's views are also considered a hardcore, religious and conservative, " he’s disparaged affirmative action and same-sex marriage, derided Social Security and Medicare as 'welfare when the recipients are those who don’t create enough to sustain themselves during their working years,'” (The Bulwark) Whereas Protasiewicz is under fire from her opponent for her supposedly "soft on crime" judicial history, despite the fact that the Supreme Court doesn't handle such cases (like those of violence) very much if at all.

This is expected to be a close election, with critical policy decisions on the podium, and so far has been the most expensive supreme court election in United States History according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In addition the result applies to us; teenagers who are working individuals and applying and attending schools where affirmative action and education of sexuality and US History could be stifled. Not only that but many of us may need or have needed reproductive care, and the right to that care has been so devastatingly blocked off in Wisconsin.

Glossary

{1} sets of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed or nationality in areas in which such groups are underrepresented — such as education and employment.