Gov. Tony Evers emphasized the importance of voting in the upcoming Nov. 5 election and spoke about Wisconsin’s new legislative maps in an interview with The Daily Cardinal Thursday.
Evers said while he isn’t “here to necessarily talk about how important it is to vote for two Democrats,” he highlighted Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on abortion, climate change and affordable housing which he said are top issues for Wisconsinites — regardless of which side of the aisle voters are on.
“If you look at what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz put forth on all three of those issues, people should be excited about it, whether you're young, older or in between,” Evers said. “Those are top priorities for all of us, whether we are Republicans or Democrats.”
With the Nov. 5 election a week away, Evers noted the ease of early voting and encouraged students to vote early if they are able to.
“There's many things that are going on in a student's life. The last thing you want to happen is something happens on Election Day, Nov. 5, and suddenly you're in a position that you can’t vote,” Evers said.
University of Wisconsin-Madison students can vote early in person at Memorial Union and the Health Sciences Learning Center polling locations from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and at Union South from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m through Friday, Nov. 1.
Additionally, there are several off-campus and general Madison early voting locations. More information about voting absentee in person can be found by visiting the My Vote Wisconsin website.
Ahead of the election, state lawmakers will run on new maps Evers signed into law earlier this year, reducing the Republican advantage in statewide races.
Evers said the maps will be “good for Wisconsin” and “force people to work together” in the state Legislature, ahead of the first election state lawmakers will run on the new maps.
“We’re a purple state, every two years we should be fighting for the majority in each house,” Evers said. “I think [the new maps] are going to force cooperation and collaboration and basically the will of the people is the law of the land and we’re bringing that to fruition.”
In December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 4-3 liberal majority ruled the state's legislative maps were unconstitutional because districts are not contiguous, meaning all parts of a voting district were not physically in contact.
“It's going to be a great thing, and then in two years, I believe we'll have much closer [margins] of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate,” Evers said.
Senior reporter Iain Chang contributed to this article.
Anna Kleiber is the state news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the arts editor. Anna has written in-depth on elections, legislative maps and campus news. She has interned with WisPolitics and Madison Magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @annakleiber03.
