In March, The Washington Post reported that University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sought to move a conversation around the COVID-19 pandemic and students returning to campus in the fall to a private portal used by presidents and chancellors of the 14 Big Ten universities.
Barbara felt ecstatic in January when a Wisconsin Department of Health Services letter confirmed that she and her parents were eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations. The 28-year-old education student lives with her parents in Milwaukee. All three share caretaking duties for Barbara’s young child, who is on the autism spectrum. That unpaid work qualifies them as frontline health care personnel in Wisconsin’s vaccine rollout.
There are many ways to measure a successful election, said Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at UW-Madison.
Proposals to change Wisconsin’s voting system could determine how one of America’s top swing states picks congressional candidates, how it awards its 10 Electoral College votes, how fast results can be announced and who can use the increasingly popular method of absentee voting.
State officials knew little about the secretive industry until the pandemic struck; now they are scrambling to keep mink farmers and their animals safe.
It was Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. David Fischer had just arrived for work at his dairy farm in Rio, Wisconsin. A slight breeze punctuated the freezing, grey morning.
Every January across Wisconsin, some towns and villages hold timehonored, in-person caucuses to nominate candidates for local offices. Residents gather in town or village halls, schools and other community spaces to vote, orally or on slips of paper, for candidates in races for positions such as supervisor, treasurer and clerk. It’s a practice guided by state law and rooted in tradition. But after the COVID-19 outbreak brought upheaval to the state’s 2020 primary and general elections, the unique structure of January caucuses now raises questions about balancing inclusion and transparency with safety concerns.