With several pivotal rulings pending before the court, the upcoming election holds significant weight for Wisconsin.
The nonpartisan effort to produce voter guides, guides.vote, recently released its Wisconsin Supreme Court race guide, providing a cheat sheet leading up to the April 1 election. The high-profile race tasks voters with deciding between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel to fill the open seat on the court. Both Crawford and Schimel are Wisconsin natives and current circuit court judges. Crawford sits on the Dane County Circuit Court, and Schimel on the Waukesha County Circuit Court; he also previously served as Wisconsin attorney general.
The election is crucial in determining whether the court retains its 4-3 liberal majority or shifts to conservative control.
While this is technically a nonpartisan election, meaning candidates do not run under a party label, Crawford is widely viewed as the liberal choice aligned with Democrats, and Schimel is considered a conservative backed by Republicans and campaigning against what he calls the court’s “liberal control.” The open seat belongs to liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who is retiring at the end of her term this spring.
Janet Protasiewicz’s (pronounced pro-tuh-SAY-witz) win in the high-profile 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election commanded widespread national attention and, as a result, saw a surge in voter turnout, particularly among young people and women: over 1.7 million voters cast ballots.
How this Election Will Shape Wisconsin’s Laws on Abortion, Elections and Voting
Through cases like Dobbs v. Jackson and Moore v. Harper, the conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court has given state supreme courts more power, making them increasingly vital avenues for cases involving abortion rights and other major civil rights battles.
The upcoming election holds significant weight for Wisconsin, with several pivotal rulings pending before the court:
- One of the most pressing cases involves a 175-year-old abortion ban from 1849, which District Attorney Joel Urmanksi (R) is pushing the Court to reinstate. The law has no exceptions for rape or incest–Liberal Justice Jill Karofsky called it a “death warrant” for Wisconsin women and children.
- The court will also rule on Republican efforts to remove Wisconsin elections commission administrator Meagan Wolfe. Gov. Tony Evers (D) warned that if successful, this move would “sow distrust and disinformation about our elections, denigrate our clerks, poll workers, and election administrators, and undermine basic tenets of our democracy, including the peaceful transfer of power.”
- The court is reviewing an appeal of a ruling that overturned Act 10, a 2011 state law limiting public employees’ bargaining rights, while also taking up voting and redistricting cases, including a 2022 ruling by the then-conservative majority that banned most ballot drop boxes and restricted assistance with absentee ballots.
A Closer Look at the Candidates
Only two candidates submitted the required nomination papers and signatures to qualify for the ballot, eliminating the need for a primary. This race will go straight to the general election on April 1 featuring Judge Susan Crawford and Attorney General Brad Schimel.
Susan Crawford
Crawford began her legal career as assistant attorney general in Iowa, arguing cases before the state Supreme Court before joining the Wisconsin Department of Justice as assistant attorney general, prosecuting felony criminal cases, healthcare fraud and patient abuse, eventually becoming director of criminal appeals in 2000.
Crawford later held roles in multiple government agencies before serving as the chief legal counsel to the Wisconsin Governor’s Office (2009-11). From 2011-2018 she worked at law firm Pines Bach, representing feminist organizations like Planned Parenthood and the League of Women Voters, then returned to public service after winning a seat on the Dane County Circuit Court in 2018.
According to guides.vote:
- On abortion, Crawford supports women’s “access to reproductive health care.” As a private attorney, she represented Planned Parenthood in blocking a 2011 Wisconsin law that made physicians who provide abortion services get admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
- On campaign finance, in private practice she helped file a brief that opposed the practice of candidates coordinating their expenditures with outside groups.
- On criminal justice, she supports “restorative justice,” transparency in sentencing data, and “diversion programs (like Drug Court) that hold people accountable while giving them a chance to avoid a conviction.” Her campaign said Trump pardoning 1,500 people convicted for Jan. 6 undermined “public trust in our justice system,” as did Biden’s family pardons.
- On executive power, as Dane County Circuit Court Judge Crawford declared unconstitutional a law passed by a Republican legislative majority that limited the power of the Democratic Wisconsin attorney general.
- On labor, as an attorney, Crawford represented Madison Teachers, Inc. in a 2011 lawsuit to overturn Wisconsin’s Act 10, which outlawed collective bargaining for public employee unions. She supports protecting “workers’ rights.”
- On her priorities, she believes “in protecting the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites.” She has said she is “committed as a judge to ensuring that the courtroom presents a level playing field…. and that the court is in a position to… act as a check and balance on the other branches of government.”
- On redistricting, as a private attorney, Crawford co-authored a friend of the court brief for the Wisconsin League of Women Voters that outlined options for a nonpartisan redistricting plan.
- On voting rules, she has opposed voter ID laws. She has supported giving a voter the option of swearing under penalty of perjury “that you are who you say you are and you’re an eligible voter.”
Crawford’s endorsements include: Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky, and Janet Protasiewicz, and former Justice Lewis Butler, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the Wisconsin Laborers District Council, Senator Tammy Baldwin, and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, along with 150 judges, former judges, and court commissioners.
Brad Schimel
Brad Schimel currently serves as a judge for the Waukesha County Circuit Court. Schimel began his career as an assistant district attorney in the Waukesha County Courthouse. In 2006, he was elected District Attorney and was twice re-elected before serving as Wisconsin’s Attorney General from 2015 to 2019.
According to guides.vote:
- On abortion, Schimel says he’s pro-life and that Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban is valid. In 2012 he signed a legal white paper that endorsed making “it a crime to intentionally destroy the life of an unborn child unless it is necessary to save the life of the mother.”
- On criminal justice, as attorney general he supported a Wisconsin constitutional amendment letting crime victims participate more in court proceedings and have personal information sealed. He said he didn’t object to Trump pardoning 1,500 people convicted for Jan. 6. “Presidents have the power to pardon.” Later said anyone convicted of attacking police should “serve their full sentence.”
- On environment, as attorney general Schimel moved to limit EPA authority—and then limit Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources authority—to regulate drinking water. He opposed federal restrictions on coal plants.
- On gun control, he called bans on posting blueprints online for untraceable 3-D printed guns a “First Amendment rights” issue. As attorney general he supported a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn San Francisco’s requirement that firearms stored in private homes be locked.
- On healthcare, as attorney general Schimel co-led a 20-state legal effort to strike down the Affordable Care Act.
- On labor, he supports protecting Act 10, which outlawed collective bargaining for public employees unions.
- On his priorities, he “will take back the Wisconsin Supreme Court and end the madness” of “rogue judges… putting their radical agenda above the law.”
- On redistricting, as attorney general, Schimel defended before the U.S. Supreme Court Republican-drawn redistricting maps that a lower federal court had rejected as a partisan gerrymander.
- On voting rules, Schimel supported Wisconsin’s 2011 voter ID law. As attorney general he also attempted to limit early voting in Milwaukee and Madison.
Schimel’s endorsements include: the Waukesha County Police Chiefs Association, the Milwaukee Police Association, the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association, and more than 70 Wisconsin county sheriffs, along with Judge Maria S. Lazar, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Young Republicans, and Wisconsin’s five Republican U.S. House representatives.
How to Vote
The Fair Elections Center provides a detailed Wisconsin state voting guide, and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin provides easy-access voter information and resources. An individual is eligible to vote if they are a U.S. citizen, over the age of 18 and have resided in the state for at least 28 days prior to the election. The state provides a guide on acceptable proof of residence and valid photo IDs.
College students may be eligible to vote with their student ID. Common Cause Wisconsin provides information on which campus IDs meet the state’s voter ID requirements and how to obtain the proper identification from your school.
Wisconsin has same-day voter registration, allowing you to register at the polls on April 1 when you cast your ballot. It is one of 23 states (and Washington D.C.) that allow for same-day registration. You can also register in advance. The deadline to register online or by mail is March 12, and the deadline for early in-person registration at your local clerk’s office is March 28.
To vote absentee, you can request a ballot at myvote.wi.gov., where you’ll need a digital copy of your photo ID. The deadline for most voters to request an absentee ballot is March 27 at 5 p.m., though the state recommends mailing ballots at least a week in advance (by March 20). The deadline to return your absentee ballot is 8 p.m. on April 1, before polls close.
Voting Rights and Equality
Also on the ballot is a constitutional amendment on voter ID requirements. The proposed amendment aims to cement into the state constitution Wisconsin’s Republican-led existing voter ID law (passed completely down party lines) that requires voters to show photo identification to cast a ballot. By adding it to the state constitution, any future changes to the law would require voter approval by way of another constitutional amendment.
State Republicans support this measure, arguing that moving it to the state constitution will protect the law from potential challenges by a liberal-leaning state Supreme Court.
Opponents of the provision—including all voting Democrats in the legislature, ACLU of Wisconsin, All Voting is Local Action Wisconsin, Disability Rights Wisconsin, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign—say strict voter ID laws can restrict ballot access and disproportionately affect marginalized communities. Black voters are less likely to have or obtain a photo ID. These laws also create challenges for women, particularly those who are low-income, elderly, or from minority backgrounds. Many struggle to acquire the required identification due to name changes from marriage or divorce, limited access to necessary documents, or financial barriers.
According to the ACLU Wisconsin, “If the proposed constitutional text is enacted as currently drafted, the legislature would be precluded from permitting additional categories of photo identification for voting purposes in the future, such as an ID for a federally recognized tribe outside of Wisconsin; an out-of-state driver’s license or identification card; employer IDs; a membership or organization ID; or municipal IDs. The permanency of a constitutional amendment also ties the hands of the legislature to respond to future advancements in technology as methods of identification evolve.”
Research from advocacy groups shows that voter accessibility has declined since Republicans gained control of the state legislature in 2012, with a sharper drop following the implementation of the voter ID law in 2016. To ensure your voice is heard, check your local ballot requirements and voter ID regulations. You can enter your address on Wisconsin’s official voting website to find detailed election information about the upcoming election and any additional measures that may affect your community.
Why Your Vote Matters
In April, voters will once again determine the ideological direction of the state Supreme Court, marking the second such decision in two years.
In April 2023, Wisconsin voters showed up to elect progressive Janet Protasiewicz to the state’s supreme court, defeating conservative Daniel Kelly and flipping the court from its 15-year conservative hold.
Protasiewicz’s win allowed Democrats to restore reproductive rights, labor rights, and fair elections to the state, which were undermined by over a decade of Republican rule since Scott Walker became governor in 2011. During this time, Republicans targeted unions and used extreme gerrymandering to control majorities in both the state legislature and congressional delegation.
With the race heading straight to the primary, both sides are expected to spend enormous amounts in the months leading up to Election Day. Beyond the ads and headlines, the outcome will shape Wisconsin’s legal landscape for years.
