With the polls closed and the unofficial numbers now released, reactions are pouring in regarding the 2023 election results.
Judge Janet Protasiewicz earned a seat on the State Supreme Court, collecting 202,652 more votes than Dan Kelly.
Assemblyman Paul Tittl of Manitowoc tells Seehafer News today is “not a good day in Wisconsin. I think this is going to have lasting effects, lingering effects, for at least the next ten years. I think people will have to keep an eye on everything because it is going to change the way Wisconsin operates.”
There were also three referendum questions on the ballot, with “yes” getting significantly more votes on all of them.
Assemblyman Shae Sortwell commented on the question related to conditions of release before conviction, saying he is really excited it passed as it changes the wording from bodily harm to serious harm.
He said, “We want to make sure that when somebody is released on bail that it is not just narrowly defined in this idea of bodily harm, because it can be so much broader than that.”
Sortwell, who hails from Two Rivers, also called the cash bail referendum “common sense”.
He also noted, “The idea that a judge should be able to look at the totality of circumstances with setting bail, the ability to look back on somebody’s record…is restoring a power that used to be in our state constitution for judges, and we took that power away in 1981.”
Tittl called the passage of the welfare reform referendum “the outcome we all anticipated. This is basically says that if you are going to want to eat, you should be working or at least trying to get a job. There is nothing wrong with people out there being required to do work searches if they are on public benefits. The taxpayers are paying for it.”
Tittl also noted that while this was a non-binding referendum, it gives lawmakers “the ammo” they need to pen a bill making the change official.
