How Should Wisconsin Vote in Elections? Main Street Agenda Helps You

We will be hosting events in 6 cities to promote civil conversations as we prepare to vote this fall.

So much for quiet, relaxed summers. Consider the events that took place in the 65 days between June 27 and September 1:

While we didn’t see the chaos or violence at the DNC materialize like the infamous 1968 convention, the disorienting turn of events in 2024 certainly ranks with those of 1968, a year that saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and President Lyndon Johnson abandon his bid for reelection.

In just under 65 days, Wisconsinites will have to digest the events of the summer and cast their ballots. I must say that this election is the most important of our lifetimes, provided that we treat every election as the most important. After all, the opportunity to participate in the democratic process is always better than the alternative, and we should treat it as such.

I attended both the RNC and the DNC. Here’s what I’ve seen from Republicans and Democrats.

The Main Street Agenda is here to help you navigate this time. It’s an election-year project designed to provide information and civil conversation about the issues that matter most to Wisconsin voters. The topics come from a UW Survey Center survey, WisconSays, that asked residents what the top issues were that they were facing.

Since January, we have been publishing editorials on topics covered by faculty at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, our partners in the Main Street Agenda. The main issues include inflation, gun violence, health care, crime, income/wealth distribution, and climate change.

Next phase of Main Street program includes community events

This fall, the project moves to the next phase. We will host six events across Wisconsin to provide information, answer questions, and hold civil conversations. Town hall meetings will be held in La Crosse (September 11) and Milwaukee (October 15), focusing on health care, climate change, and inflation, respectively. Four dinner and discussion events are planned in Pewaukee (September 18), Green Bay (September 25), Eau Claire (October 2), and Madison (October 9).

While political polarization remains a real problem, when we surveyed and listened to voters at the 2022 Main Street Agenda midterm town halls, we found a real hunger for constructive discussion, even among people who strongly disagreed. More importantly, there was a shared desire to solve problems and move forward.

Learn more and register for these free events

In addition, we will be inviting candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to submit op-eds on some of the key issues to give voters a chance to hear directly from candidates about how they would address these issues if elected. Look for the first of these op-eds to be published next week.

Want to comment on a story or issue? Here’s how to make your voice heard.

Finally, we’re opening up space in the Ideas Lab’s print section to publish more letters from readers this fall, as we digest, comment, and listen to each other as we prepare for the November 5 vote. Keep sending us your letters. And if you haven’t written in a while, or if you never have, please consider writing. If there’s ever a time for new voices and new perspectives, it’s now.

Here’s how to get your opinions published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Want to share your thoughts on a current topic? Or comment on how our community or state could be improved? Here’s how to get your opinion published.

Jim Fitzhenry is the think tank editor and director of community engagement for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at [email protected] or (920) 993-7154.