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2012 – The Year of Many Elections

2012 will go down in the books as “The Year of Many Elections,” with voters heading to the polls in April, June and November.

Illustration by Ryan Miller.

April’s local elections were noteworthy for the tiebreaker finish in Liberty Grove. When MaryKay Shumway and Kubie Luchterhand each received 273 votes for the open town supervisor position, the final decision came down to a coin toss. MaryKay Shumway called tails to win the toss and the position.

The April elections also saw turnover on the County Board, with five out of the six open spots won by non-incumbents. Women continue to be underrepresented on the board, holding only three of the 21 spots, or 14 percent.

In June, Gov. Walker became the first recalled governor in the nation’s history to win a recall election, beating the now twice-defeated Tom Barrett by nearly 170,000 votes.

Many thought the Walker win had signaled that Wisconsin would go red in November’s presidential election, but Door County, Wisconsin and the nation sent President Barack Obama back to the White House for four more years. U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Representative Reid Ribble, and State Assembly Representative Garey Bies were also voted into office, and voters in the Gibraltar school district passed a recurring referendum to allow the district to perpetually raise $2,875,000 more than the state’s revenue limit allows.

The national election had one more effect here at home. Liberty Grove Town Board Supervisor Robert Tidball resigned after a majority of Liberty Grove voters supported Obama, saying “this past election has made it apparent to me that I do not represent the ideas and values of the majority of the Liberty Grove voters.”