Absentee Balloting Exceeds 2009 Levels

More city voters have already voted absentee than did in the last contested state Supreme Court race, according to figures from the city clerk's office.

A total of 709 absentee ballots had been filled out as of Tuesday, a week before the April 5 statewide election between incumbent Justice David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Another 372 absentee ballots have been requested but not returned as of Tuesday, City Clerk Kristine Schmidt said. A surge of absentee ballots were returned this week, she added.

The 709 already exceeds the 507 total absentee ballots filed in the April 2009 election in which incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson defeated challenger Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick. The 507 absentee votes were about 8 percent of the total votes cast.

This year's Supreme Court race has drawn considerable statewide interest, with supporters and critics of the governor's sweeping changes to collective bargaining lining up behind the two judicial candidates.

Republican supporters of Prosser likely are working to run up votes in conservative strongholds such as Waukesha County, while Democrats will push for big turnouts in Milwaukee and Dane counties, as they did in the fall gubernatorial election, according to political reporter Craig Gilbert at JSOnline.com. Gilbert reported a big wild card will public employees' turnout and voting choices next week.

According to statistics provided by Schmidt:

Brookfield city voter turnout for spring elections with high court races in the past decade has ranged from a low of 21 percent in 2009 to a high of 56 percent in 2007 when Washington County Circuit Court Judge Annette Ziegler defeated Madison attorney Linda Clifford for an open seat after Jon Wilcox retired.

In the 2007 race there were a total of 1,425 absentee ballots cast in the city, or about 9 percent of the total 15,096 votes cast.

Historic spring absentee balloting levels are far lower than was seen last fall in which absentee voting comprised 19 percent of the total city votes cast, as then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to become governor.

Also on Tuesday's ballot are : one with Ken Moe and Richard Brunner vying for Gary Jones' seat and the other with Sandra Schultz and Nancy Kormanik challenging incumbent Kathryn Wilson.

There also is a , in which Assistant District Attorney Lloyd Carter is challenging incumbent Judge Kathleen Stilling.