BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – For fall primary elections in Wisconsin, voters can only vote for candidates from one political party.
However, they are open primaries, which leaves room for crossover voting, which is when someone who identifies with one of the political parties, tries to play spoiler by voting in the opposite party’s primary.
Two things we know about the general election in November: Tony Evers will be the Democratic candidate for governor and Ron Johnson will be the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Who those two will face will be decided Aug.9, and Lawrence University American studies and history professor Jerald Podair isn’t so sure it will be solely Republicans picking Evers’ opponent or solely Democrats picking Johnson’s challenger.
“I think there will be crossover voting,” said Podair. “I think there is just a question of if you’re a Democrat, how do you spend that vote? Who do you want to run against?”
The Republican primary for governor seems to be a two-person race between Tim Michels and Rebecca Kleefisch. Kevin Nicholson, who dropped out of the race, State Rep. Tim Ramthun, and Adam Fischer are also on the ballot.
In the latest Marquette University Law School Poll, neither beats Evers head to head, but Kleefisch is inside the six percent margin of error. Evers beat her 47% to 43% and he beat Michels 48% to 41%.
FOX 11 asked Terry Lee, chair of the Democratic Party of Brown County, who he would vote for if he were to crossover for the primary.
“Tough call,” said Lee. “I probably wouldn’t do it though. I really couldn’t it. There’s too many races in the Democratic primary for both Senate, secretary of state, treasurer. Those are all on the ballots for Democrats here.”
“I think the two candidates are pretty stark contrast between the two,” said Andy Williams, 1st vice chair of the Republican Party of Brown County. “It’s not like one of those races where people are just like you know whoever ends up being the candidate, I’ll be ok with. It seems to be pretty segmented.”
In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Mandela Barnes (25%) and Alex Lasry (21%) are the only candidates with more than 20% support in the latest Marquette poll. Sarah Godlewski (9%) and Tom Nelson (7%) registered single digit support.
“Now there I think the choice is pretty clear or clearer if you’re a Republican because the only Democrat that the polls show Johnson beating is Alex Lasry,” said Podair. “It would make sense if you are a Republican to want Alex Lasry as the nominee rather than Mandela Barnes.”
Johnson beat Lasry 45% to 42% in the June 22nd poll. Barnes beat Johnson 46% to 42% in the same poll.
FOX 11 asked Williams if there has been talk within local Republicans of potentially crossing over for the Senate race.
“In years past there was always that talk,” said Williams. “I haven’t heard any of that this year.”
For Democrats, Lee says crossover talk is also nonexistent within Brown County’s party.
“I just don’t see that being a factor,” said Lee. “The races are too important where people are not going to weigh in on who they think the best candidate is going to be.”
A reminder, if you are tempted to vote Democrat for one race but Republican the other, your ballot will be invalid. You can only vote one party for the entire Aug. 9 ballot. See a sample ballot here.
The general election is Nov. 8.
