Hey there, Wisconsin!

We’re almost there—Election Day is Tuesday. If you didn’t vote already, make a plan for getting to the polls and weighing in on the big issues waiting for you on your ballot. 

See the Wisconsin Elections Commission website at MyVote.WI.gov to learn where to vote, what’s on your ballot, and whether you’re registered or what you need to know to get registered. 

🚑 Last Week’s Question: We asked you how we should treat health care in the United States? 

I thought a lot of center-right readers would go with “B,” making sure everyone at least has catastrophic coverage—but it got no votes, while a handful went with “A” (everyone’s on their own).

I thought there’d be a lot of support for “C,” to build on the Affordable Care Act, using public dollars to make private insurance more affordable. It got a few votes, but 85% of all answers went with “D” and said we need to catch up with the rest of the developed world and provide universal coverage.

Remember, these kinds of surveys are definitely not scientific—but we really, really appreciate your responses.

⚖️ This week: Did you know Wisconsin is one of only 14 states that have nonpartisan elections for state Supreme Court justices? There are five different ways it’s done across the country. After this year’s bruising campaign, which of these options appeals to you?

A)  Nonpartisan elections – Keep it as it is, warts and all.

B)  Partisan elections – Admit that political parties get involved, as eight other states do.

C)  Legislature elects – Join two other states that punt it to politicians in the capitol. 

D)  Governor appoints – Ditch the elections, as is done in four states.

E)  Nominating commission – Done in 22 states, where the governor picks someone from a list of recommended candidates compiled by an independent commission. 

To answer this week’s question about how to pick Supreme Court justices, hit reply or email me directly at pat@couriernewsroom.com, and we may share it in a future newsletter or on UpNorthNews Radio.

(Schimel for Justice campaign ad))

A new TV ad notes President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Brad Schimel in Tuesday’s nonpartisan election for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court—and it’s not from some outside political group trying to tie Schimel more directly to Trump. The ad, with its direct embrace of Trump’s endorsement, comes from Schimel himself.

A former Republican state Attorney General, Schimel is shedding any final pretenses that he would serve in a nonpartisan manner as justice, by running TV ads openly embracing “Trump’s agenda.”

As a refresher: Trump’s agenda included asking the state Supreme Court to invalidate Wisconsin’s presidential election in 2020.

Trump’s agenda attacking worker, consumer, and environmental protections would also face little resistance each time a corporation asked the court to engage in judicial activism on their part.

The election outcome will also impact the outcome of cases on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power, and voting rights and rules.

Eager to play a publicly prominent role in winning a Supreme Court election, Elon Musk announced a trip to Wisconsin this weekend to “personally hand over” $2 million in checks, split between two people, to go along with a series of $100 payments he’s promised to people in the state who sign an online petition. But hours later, he deleted his original post and changed the wording of the giveaway as state Attorney General Josh Kaul questioned its legality.

Similar stunts by Musk last year were seen as either explicit vote buying or, at minimum, crossing an ethical line. Wisconsin law makes it a crime to offer anything of value to induce a vote—or to not vote at all.

Musk and Musk-funded groups have put an estimated $20 million into helping Schimel. The $2 million is now described as going to people who signed the online petition about judges, rather than to people who had already voted.

Musk is trying to salvage his and Trump’s reputation, knowing that a Schimel loss to Susan Crawford on Tuesday would be seen nationally as a setback for the administration’s ongoing ransacking of vital services and adding tens of thousands of Americans to the unemployment ranks.

As a small newsroom, we rely on reader donation drives a few times a year. Yes, there are also a few medium and larger-sized donors, but they don’t cover the full cost of providing you with…

📰 news that holds politicians accountable, 

❤️ stories that lift up the voices of those with new and better ideas, or 

🧺 features that offer ideas for that next weekend road trip. 

In five years of doing this, we’ve never had a paywall and we never will, so please consider chipping in a small amount to help us continue our work. 

👉🏼Imaginary voter fraud – President Trump issued an executive order last week that claims to require voter identification for all elections, but it will have no impact on Tuesday’s voting in Wisconsin. State Elections Commission Chair Ann Jacob took to social media to explain why. And our Christina Lorey has a story on our website about Trump’s partisan motivation to constantly invoke voter fraud, despite its nonexistence at anywhere near a level that would impact the results of an election. 

👉🏼 Democrats, meanwhile – Gov. Tony Evers used his weekly radio address to get attention back to one of the kitchen table issues voters would like their elected officials to address: the crisis-level shortage of affordable quality childcare providers—and his proposals to reduce wait lists, lower costs, and expand the number of providers making better wages. 

Have a great week.

Be sure to vote! 🇺🇸

🔔 Remember 🔔

📻 We talk about all of these stories and more every weekday morning on UpNorthNews Radio, 6-8 a.m. on seven Civic Media stations across Wisconsin, and on our YouTube and Facebook pages. 

📱 And, of course, you can stay up to date every day through our social media feed—pick your favorite platform: Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok.