Kloppenburg Voting in Eau Claire Area

[Jackpine Radical]

I had to run a couple of errands this morning. As I was stopped at a stoplight on the edge of town, I saw a small pickup truck with a big handmade sign: Vote KLOPPENBURG April 5! I then we3nt to an office where I had to pick up some papers and the first thing everyone wanted to know was if I had voted yet. (I hadn't.) Then I went to a store, where one employee was telling the new employee that she should be sure and vote. This person was somewhat confused, so I said "If you like what Walker's been doing, vote for Prosser. Otherwise, vote for Kloppenburg.

The town seemed abuzz with excitement over this election. The Kloppenburg partisans seem very activated, and there is little visible of Prosser support. I'm told that outside interests have flooded the airwaves with Prosser ads; I don't know, since I don't much watch the tube.

I heard anecdotally that one polling place in Eau Claire was getting very heavy traffic--much moreso than is typical of an off-year, nonpartisan election. When I went to vote in rural Chippewa, the parking lot was full. I talked with the poll workers, and they said they expected at least 50% turnout given the rate so far.

I think the Wisconsin Rebellion is continuing, and I predict a Kloppenburg victory.

By way of credentials on this, let me add that I (sadly) predicted Feingold's loss.

In addition to the practical implications of this election for Wisconsin and for labor, it is a grand test of whether an informed, mobilized electorate can overcome tons of outside advertising cash. If we lose, it's a sign that the corporations can pretty much buy the results they want anywhere.

[MoDupey]

1. Yay!

I am near there and am hoping for very good numbers as well. I like the good news!

[Critters2]

6. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Blue Owl]

2. Thanks for the update

Got my fingers crossed for Kloppenburg!

[bluestateguy]

3. What time do the polls close?

(Eastern Standard Time of course, because that is the official time zone of the Establishmentarians)

[Lochloosa]

16. 8:00 pm

[Mz Pip]

4. I hope so.

I clicked on a link to a National Review article about Prosser that was posted here yesterday and read some of the comments. :puke:

One comment was interesting. The guy thought that if the election were last week Prosser would have lost but the additional week gave time to get those nasty ads out and the momentum would shift back to Prosser.

This will be a huge victory for either winning side. I hope liberals and progressives seriously get it that rules are made by people who show up. Wisconsin is living proof of that. SO GOTV Wisconsin!

[coalition_unwilling]

5. 3rd possibility: vote tampering by for-profit vote tabulation companies

like Diebold, et. al. (Actually a sub-set of your 2nd possibility, I guess.)

As Stalin once famously said, "He who casts a vote decides nothing. He who counts the vote decides everything" (very loose translation\paraphrase)

[louslobbs]

11. I would put nothing past the Koch/Republicon/Fox GOP machine. This vote count has to be watched

very closely and those Republicon/Koch voting machines should have been destroyed after the 2004 elections. I need a paper trail available to at least be convinced that a recount can occur. Not a machine that can be manipulated by the criminal thugs and corporate Koch fraud machine. "He who counts the votes" indeed.
Lou

[Jackpine Radical]

20. I have no idea what the case is elsewhere, but I vote by making a mark

with a black Magic Marker pen on a piece of paper which is then fed into a counting scanner machine. There was a worker standing there watching the machine & handing out I Voted stickers. The machine tallies the vote & saves the raw ballots.

[louslobbs]

24. We have the same thing here in California, but some states only have those"voting machines" with no

verification other than the computer within that can be easily hacked and votes changed and a paper recount unavailable. I wonder why Repbulicons are so against paper ballot trails? They probably just want to save paper for the environment they care so much about lol.
Lou

[louslobbs]

7. Thank you for this promising info JackPine It's great to hear from those on the ground and right

in the midst of it. Your post is music to my ears and thank you my friend.
Lou

[alterfurz]

8. voter #761 ~10:30am, Madison near east side

as compared to #276 mid-morning at the Feb. primary, so almost 3x turnout. Weather's cooperating, too--it's a beautiful day, we're headed for a WIN!

[RandySF]

9. Turnout is huge in Madison

Reading reports from the top diary on Daily Kos that someone that there had been over 200 votes cast in once precinct by 8:45 this morning.

[FeelingBlue]

10. This actually brings tears to my eyes.

Thank you.:yourock: :woohoo: :pals:

[louslobbs]

12. Mine too feeling blue and welcome to DU........You Rock!

Lou

[RandySF]

13. Does anyone know turnout in red areas?

I'm not trying pour water, but it's good to know what's going in the state overall.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. The areas I'm describing are on the edge.

Very purple.

They went for Obama in 2008, but voted Feingold out in 2010. Good, competent Dems were swept from Assembly and Senate seats.

Now it looks like they want their state back.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. I haven't heard or seen anything from anywhere else.

It would be nice to know what the turnout is in Waukesha.

[RandySF]

22. I hope you're right

And that they haven't been brainwashed.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. good luck!

[FSogol]

15. Awesome. K & R. n/t

[Roy Ellefson]

17. Kloppenburg

My wife and I were voters #3 and #4 this morning in Colfax...I also saw and know voter #2. So by my calculcations at 7:05 this morning Kloppenburg had at least 75% of the vote in the village of Colfax. Haha.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Hi, Roy.

Been in Colfax many times & have a lot of friends over that way.

[louslobbs]

25. Very cool, and welcome to DU Ellefson

Lou

[JitterbugPerfume]

23. Please let it turn out right

Just this one time , let it turn out right!

[Arkana]

26. To be fair, it wasn't hard to predict Russ losing.

Polls showed him behind for a really long time and he never could catch back up.

[Scuba]

27. The turnout here in Grothman-land is .....

....much higher than normal.


I just came from seven hours of collecting Grothman Recall signatures (don't worry, another good man is on duty) out in the parking lot of our local polling place. By my unscientific judgement, this looks like a Presidential election-sized turnout.

As I expected, lots of people came and went and refused to make eye contact. A few came over and asked how we could support recalling Grothman, how we could side with "those protesters in Madison who destroyed the capitol." One guy told us to "get jobs! I'm tired of supporting you" (both of us are retired, my colleague after a 30+ year in law enforcement, me 30+ in healthcare).


But more than 30 people came over and signed the petitions before I left. That's alot in this small community.

Based on what I know, and my unproven prognostication skills, here's my take on the recall efforts in Wisconsin over the next 10 months.

...Kapanke - toast

...Hopper - toast

...Olson - toast

...Darling - toast

...three other Republican State Senators - very much at risk

...Glen Grothman - will have to face recall election, but will likely win (very, very RED district).

...Walker - toast, but not until next January.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. I think you're probably right on Grothman

but I'll add Sheila Harsorf to the list of those whom I believe will be successfully recalled. She's just west of me, and lots of our people have been going over there to collect sigs. My wife plans to on the weekend. From what I've heard, they are very organized & systematic in the sig collection, and I imagine they're closing in on her.

[Scuba]

29. Excellent. Good work. We got 70 sigs today, surpassing my expectations. n/t