Wisconsinites to cast ballots on Tuesday in closely-watched state Supreme Court election

Wisconsinites will head to the polls on Tuesday to vote in the state’s Supreme Court election, which has garnered national attention across both sides of the aisle as Conservative Waukesha County judge and former Republican attorney general Brad Schimel faces off against Democrat Dane County judge Susan Crawford. 

Currently, the state’s high court has a 4-3 liberal majority. The retirement of a liberal justice means the control of the court is at stake in the election. A liberal-controlled court could see the Republicans lose two seats in the House, cutting into the party’s razor-thin majority, due to the potential for redistricting of congressional lines.

The last day of early voting was Sunday, through which at least 644,800 people cast ballots. That number is expected to rise as municipalities report additional ballots that have been collected over the weekend. Early voting results are at least 57 percent higher, or around 235,000 ballots, than the 2023 election, in which 409,755 votes were counted, NBC 5.

Many major counties have seen drastic increases in early voting compared to the last election. Milwaukee County, the largest in the state, has seen a 40 percent increase, while Dane County, the second largest, has seen a 43 percent increase. Those two counties are Democrat majorities. Milwaukee suburb counties have also seen increases, with Waukesha County seeing a 62 percent increase and Ozaukee County seeing a 53 percent increase. Washington County, the most Republican of the three Milwaukee suburb counties, has seen early voting rates double from 2023.

Polls in Wisconsin are open at 7 am on April 1 and close at 8 pm.

The election has been closely watched by both parties, with over $81 million being spent on it, breaking records for national spending on a judicial election, per the Associated Press.

Elon Musk, whose America PAC has offered Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition against "activist judges," gave out two $1 million checks to attendees of his Sunday town hall event in Wisconsin and signed the petition. 

At the Sunday event, Musk told attendees, "What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the US House of Representatives. That is why it is so significant. And whichever party controls the House, you know, to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization. I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it's going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will."