The August 13th Primary: Important information every climate voter needs to know

TAKE ACTION: Spend half an hour learning about what you’ll be voting on in the August 13th primary using the resources below, and then share that with every climate voter you know.

It’s always easy to overlook a primary election, especially since the media seems primarily focused on the presidential race. Many people aren’t even sure what things would be on their ballot for the August 13th election. 

Along with getting yourself up to speed on the primary, you can play an important role by actively working to educate the climate voters around you about the election and serving as a resource to them. I’ve already discovered through my own conversations that even people who are politically active often don’t know as much as they need to about the primary. 

The August election is when we help the political party of our choice determine which national and state legislative candidates will face off against the chosen candidates of other parties in the November 5th general election. We have open primaries in Wisconsin, which means you don’t have to register for a political party to vote, you simply choose which party’s slate of candidates you wish to vote for. You can’t vote for candidates from more than one party.

There are also two amendments on the August 13th ballot that Wisconsin CCL opposes. If a majority of voters vote yes, those amendments will become part of the constitution, and be very hard to undo (details further down). They are the only amendments that will be on the ballot. 

The August 13th primary is called the Partisan Primary to distinguish it from the non-partisan elections Wisconsin holds in February and April where we vote for non-partisan elected positions (city, county, school board, judges) and the executive branch (governor, lieutenant governor). In April we also voted for a presidential candidate from the party of our choice. Wisconsin Constitutional amendments can appear on any state election ballot once they’ve passed through the legislature twice.

The races on the ballot in August are for one of your two US Senators (Tammy Baldwin is the incumbent), your US Representative, your Wisconsin Senator, and your Wisconsin Assembly representative. In more than two-thirds of the races there is only one person running from their party. Why vote in that case? Because if you like that candidate, a strong showing for them in the primary helps build their momentum for the general election. And of course, if you have more than one candidate running from your political party of choice, then this is an important opportunity to support the one that is better on climate change or other issues that matter to you. 

Vote NO on the constitutional amendments. One of the most important reasons to vote in the primary is to help defeat two very problematic constitutional amendments. These two amendments each would hamstring the governor’s office from accepting any federal funds by requiring the legislature to give permission first. Think about the growing number of climate disasters that are taking place. The governor would have to get permission from the legislative branch in order to receive federal disaster relief money. The amendments would apply to all federal programs, including Inflation Reduction Act programs, health care, infrastructure. Wisconsin Citizens’ Climate Lobby opposes these amendments, along with the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Education Association Council, Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments & Boards, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, Wisconsin Public Health Association, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and many state environmental groups.  

Candidate resources for you and your friends: 

• After June 28th you and your friends/family can see what races will be on your ballot by entering your address at myvote.wi.gov.  
• You can also easily see who is running in every Wisconsin Senate and Assembly race on two maps created by the Wisconsin Examiner.
• You can see who is running for US Senate and Congress at ballotpedia.org
• You can research candidates by googling for their campaign webpages or Facebook pages. 

Constitutional amendment resources for you and your friends:

• League of Women Voters Vote NO toolkit
• Ballotpedia.org for a neutral stance description of each amendment. Amendment 1. Amendment 2.
• Coming soon on our cclwi.org website for templates you can use to communicate with your friends about the amendments.

Voting Logistics (e.g. registration, absentee voting, polling places, etc.)

• myvote.wi.gov is the official Wisconsin voting site and you can register or apply for absentee voting right on the site in many cases. It’s the single best resource for making sure you are ready to vote and setting up your preferred way you’ll vote.  
• Additional resources and information (including rides to the polls!) are offered by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

Please take time to pay attention to the August 13th Primary election. If you are going to be on vacation then, make plans for how you will vote early or absentee.

And start asking every climate voter you know about their plans to vote. Here’s how I usually start those conversations: “I’m so concerned about this election that I’ve been spending lots of time on it. I’ve been asking everyone I know if they are voting in the August 13th primary, and it’s been interesting talking with people about it. How about you? Are you planning to vote on August 13th?” If they don’t know about the primary, it gets them asking. And it gets them talking about the election.

Let’s all work to elect candidates who are strong on climate!