Sauk County voters favor incumbents in midterm election

Sauk County voters favored incumbents up and down the ticket Tuesday.

A local example was the sheriff’s race, which saw Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister win for a fourth time against Democrat challenger Paul Hefty and Independent newcomer Becky Blackman.

Meister secured 17,487 votes out of a total 28,758 ballots cast countywide.

“I was very pleased with the results,” Meister said. “I appreciate all the support and I’m looking forward to the next four years.”

The aim of the sheriff’s office will continue to be providing “the best law enforcement” as well as work on projects that were already planned, Meister said, such as the addition of new radios for squad cars, cameras for patrol vehicles and body cameras for deputies.

“I’d like to thank everybody for the support and for having confidence in the sheriff,” Meister said.

The act of reelection echoed throughout the ballot within Sauk County. According to unofficial tallies, Gov. Tony Evers was favored by roughly 1,900 votes over Republican challenger Tim Michels. Attorney General Josh Kaul received 724 more votes than Republican Eric Toney. Secretary of State Doug La Follette also received a higher majority of the county vote, winning over three other candidates, including Republican Amy Loudenbeck, who received just over 800 fewer votes than La Follette’s 14,242 in Sauk County.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat, kept his seat, in part thanks to favorable votes in Sauk County. He defeated Republican challenger Erik Olsen by 13,927 votes to 12,583 votes.

State Senator Howard Marklein, who held his District 17 seat, was favored in Sauk County by more than 2,500 votes over Democratic challenger Pat Skogen. Dist. 51 Rep. Todd Novak, who held his seat against Democratic challenger Leah Spicer, received 2,136 votes to Spicer’s 1,928 in Sauk County.

Dist. 81 Rep. David Considine held his seat over Republican challenger Shellie Benish and was heavily favored in Sauk County with more than 8,000 of the total 13,457 votes cast. Incumbent Tony Kurtz, a Republican who holds the state District 50 seat, was reelected with help from Sauk County voters.

Kurtz received 5,591 over Democratic challenger Michael Leuth, who received 3,420 votes in Sauk County.

Both Sauk County Coroner Greg Hahn and Clerk of Circuit Court Carrie Wastlick, Republicans, ran unopposed and secured their positions for another term. Dist. 41 Rep. Alex Dallman also ran unopposed and won with more than 1,500 votes.

In other races, Sauk County residents did not favor the winners. Candidates for state treasurer, Democrat Aaron Richardson and Republican Jon Leiber, ran after current Treasurer Sarah Godlewski ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat and lost in the primary. While Sauk County voted for Richardson with 14,021 votes, Leiber took the seat.

The U.S. Senate seat being sought by former Lieutenant Gov. Mandela Barnes was again secured by incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, for a fourth term. Sauk County residents favored Barnes by a close margin of 14,617 votes to Johnson’s 14,288.

Part of Sauk County also voted for the U.S. District 3 Congressional candidates this year. Republican Derrick Van Orden and Democratic Brad Pfaff faced off to take the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Ron Kind. Pfaff fell short in the district, and in Sauk County with 656 votes, while Van Orden secured the seat and 1,065 votes countywide.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach also announced his retirement. Two candidates vied for the District 27 seat with Democrat Dianne Hesselbein winning both the seat and with Sauk County voters. Hesselbein received 7,672 votes over Republican candidate Robert Relph, who received 5,689 votes countywide.

Though there were generally lines at the polls in Baraboo, City Clerk Brenda Zeman said the day went smoothly, with no one seeming to wait more than 30 minutes, even when the line was out of the door of the city Civic Center.

“It doesn’t seem like anybody stood in line for a really long time,” Zeman said. “Everything was working well.”

Voter turnout countywide was nearly as high as it was during the 2018 midterm elections. According to the county clerk’s office, 55% of registered voters cast ballots, down from 60% four years ago.

In the city of Baraboo, the trend was similar. In November 2018, nearly 75% of registered voters cast ballots, Zeman said. Roughly 68% of registered voters cast ballots Tuesday. With the inclusion of 384 people who registered the day of the election, there were 5,007 total voters out of 7,353 registered voters.

“For as many people we had going through those doors, all in all it was a good day,” Zeman said.

A referendum in the town of Reedsburg asking whether the board should appoint the position of town treasurer rather than have it as an elected position passed 301 to 239. A similar referendum in the town of Baraboo, which asked voters to allow the board to appoint both the clerk and treasurer positions, was rejected by 510 no votes to 437 yes votes.