government accountability board – Madison Catholic Herald

Shame on Wisconsin voters! Approximately 12.7 percent of eligible voters turned out for the August 12 partisan primary, according to results certified by the state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB).

There were 552,342 votes cast in primaries for governor, which is 12.7 percent of Wisconsin’s 2014 voting-age population of 4,348,307, according to Census estimates.

Before I proceed, I have to confess that I am one of those citizens who did not vote in the August 12 primary. I could plead that I was too busy: I worked all day and attended the Diocese of Madison’s Lumen Christi Society event that evening.

But that is really no excuse. I could have left work to vote or even stopped by the polling place between work and the evening event.

Don’t forget to vote! State has first primary in August since World War II

Don’t forget to vote! That’s something we haven’t heard in August for many years. In fact, this is Wisconsin’s first partisan primary in August since World War II, according to the Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.).

The state Legislature moved the partisan primary from the second Tuesday in September to the second Tuesday in August so Wisconsin can comply with a federal law designed to give military and overseas voters enough time to vote by absentee ballot, said Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the G.A.B.

Wisconsin last held partisan primaries in August in 1944 and 1946. That means that only voters over age 84 would remember voting in August.

Judges on board deserve our thanks

It is difficult to think of a scandal as a good thing. But the scandal triggered by violations of election and lobby laws 10 years ago, that led to reforming state regulation of both activities, had a positive effect.

One such reform merged the State Elections Board and the State Ethics Board into a new Government Accountability Board (GAB) with different membership. This has proven to be a very good thing.

Most members of the former Elections Board were designees of partisan leadership in the legislature. Board members did their best, but they had limited powers and were often expected to represent the interests of partisan leaders who appointed them.

Recall rules: Issues involved in Wisconsin’s first statewide recall primary

On Tuesday, May 8, Wisconsin will be experiencing its first statewide recall primary. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, the recall election is happening and state citizens should be paying attention.

Faithful citizenship resources

The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) encourages Catholic voters to visit its Faithful Citizenship voter education page for resources on Catholic teaching (www.wisconsincatholic.org/faithful_citizenship.cfm).

There you will find a letter from the bishops of Wisconsin written prior to the 2010 elections. In that letter, the bishops admit that “being a faithful citizen is never easy.” Yet, they encourage Catholics to “remain engaged, not just politically but also culturally,” since there is “so much good that we will contribute to our nation and to our world.”

The WCC Web site also includes the latest edition of its Guidelines for Church Involvement in Electoral Politics as well as a question card voters can use when questioning candidates running for state office.

Information for state voters

Also helpful is information provided by the state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB), which issued a press release with information for state voters about the primary recall rules (http://gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/recall).

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Faithful citizenship resources

Information for state voters