Expecting low turnout, towns looked to cut costs

By Scott Bellile

Rural towns will be on the hook for the costs of running a New London School Board primary, but board members decided they would rather keep polling places open in low-turnout areas than inconvenience voters.

The New London School Board on Monday, Jan. 14 reviewed and then denied requests from numerous municipalities to consolidate polling locations for the Feb. 19 school board primary.

Towns, city look to cut costs

Clerks for the towns of Fremont, Winchester, Wolf River, Liberty, Deer Creek and Bear Creek all asked the School District of New London to combine some polling locations among rural towns.

The town clerks anticipated high costs to employ poll workers for a primary election that would likely generate low voter turnout. No other races will be on the ballot that day.

“If required to hold the primary at the Town Hall, I will be required to have a minimum of 3 poll workers for a 14 hour shift. Even with a generously estimated 25% participation rate, the Town of Winchester would have only 27 voters,” Holly Stevens, town of Winchester clerk, stated in an email to the school district. “The costs associated with facilitating this would be significant.”

According to April 2018 voter turnout figures, six people voted in the New London School Board race in the town of Bear Creek, eight in the town of Fremont, nine in Deer Creek, 10 in Wolf River and 30 in Winchester.

These towns draw low voter turnout for New London School Board elections because many of their residents live in other neighboring school districts, including Clintonville, Hortonville, Weyauwega-Fremont and Winneconne.

New London City Clerk Jackie Beyer also asked the school board to consolidate New London’s five voting districts throughout town into one location at City Hall for the primary.

Beyer wrote doing so would save the city $2,500, which includes pay for poll workers and costs to transport voting machines.

The school board denied New London’s request as well.

Greenville voting moved to Hortonia

The school board agreed to consolidate just one polling location in the town of Greenville for the primary because doing so will not affect any registered voters.

A residence on Greendale Road, belonging to Apple Valley Concrete and Construction, is located in the School District of New London.

Wendy Helgeson, Greenville town clerk, told the Press Star Tuesday, Jan. 15 that nobody at the address has voted in at least two years. It is the only Greenville residence in the School District of New London.

Regardless, Greenville would have had to staff a polling place for that address despite there being no registered voters.

To save on costs, the school board agreed to move Greenville’s polling place to Hortonia for the primary.

Helgeson said if residents at that address wish to vote in the primary, they can request an absentee ballot at Greenville Town Hall, or ballots will be available on Feb. 19 at Hortonia’s polling place, the Hortonville-Hortonia Fire District building.

Board members want easy voting access

Terry Wegner, school board president, said voters deserve convenient access to the polls on primary day.

“Whenever possible, we should not disenfranchise anybody from voting,” Wegner said. “And while I don’t think it’s particularly fair to the voters, I also don’t think it’s fair to the candidates that are running. They’re entitled to have a duly process election where the voters can go to their town halls or their city district and vote where they usually vote.”

“With this primary, unfortunately it will probably be a very low turnout,” school board member Mark Grossman said. “But with six people being on the ballot, you know, like in Bear Creek, six people voted there for the last election. Those six votes could make a difference.”

Board Vice President Virginia Schlais said she does not want voters to be unsure about where they go on primary day. She also questioned how quickly and effectively the towns could communicate the change in polling locations before next month.

“I just think it’s way too confusing, and to me, I say just leave it,” she said.

Primary set for Feb. 19

From upper left moving clockwise, New London School Board candidates Virginia Schlais, Chris Martinson, Pete Bosquez, Mary Swifka, Tina Ruckdashel and Jeremy Pues.
Submitted photos

Six school district residents are running for two school board seats.

A primary is necessary because the number of candidates surpasses double the number of seats up for grabs.

Incumbents Schlais and Chris Martinson are up for re-election. Challenging them are Pete Bosquez, Jeremy Pues, Tina Ruckdashel and Mary Swifka.

The primary will narrow down the candidate field to four people who will appear on the April 2 ballot.

“I want to publicly thank everybody who has shown interest in running for the school board,” Superintendent Dennis Krueger said. “We haven’t had a primary election here in a long time.”

Recently, 2017 was a high-interest year for the school board when five candidates ran for three available seats, but that election was still two candidates shy of necessitating a primary.