Hey Wisconsin People! You’re Voting Today, Right? RIGHT?

Not that there’s much of a chance that anyone in Wisconsin has let it slip their minds, but today is Election Day, and the outcome of today’s election for an open seat on the state supreme court will — no hyperbole here — be absolutely vital for voting and abortion rights and everything else about having a functional democracy going forward. The election is nominally nonpartisan, but everyone knows who’s on what team.

Here, enjoy this brief explainer on why the election matters, a “TED Talk for Toddlers” that was twote by Julia Louis-Dreyfus yesterday:

We like the part where the GOP gerrymander is represented by mean growling dinosaurs; it could only be improved by making one of the dinosaurs exclaim, “I say we call it democracy’s grave!”

So really, that’s all you need to know about why Wisconsin needs to elect Janet Protasiewicz (pronounced pro-tuh-SAY-witz) to the state Supreme Court. What, you want details? OK, a quick recap:

The Republican candidate, Daniel Kelly, is a far-right kook who’s running attack ads that are literal shot-by shot remakes of George HW Bush’s infamous Willie Horton ads. Kelly advised the state GOP on how to submit fake electors in the 2020 election. Before Scott Walker appointed him to the state Supreme Court, Kelly wrote that marriage equality for LGBTQ folks would “rob the institution of marriage of any discernible meaning.” He also compared affirmative action to slavery. Kelly lost his seat in 2020 to Jill Karofsky, but he’s back to try to secure Wisconsin’s extreme GOP gerrymander for another decade (not that he’d say so openly, although before his appointment, he’d literally worked with the RNC to create the gerrymandered maps).

The Democrat, Protasiewicz, is a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge who is very open about supporting reproductive freedom and has made clear she won’t stand for gerrymandering. She says that she will of course be guided by the law in any decisions, but it’s hardly bias to say that she’s for women’s equality and for fair electoral representation, those being things the law allegedly is also pretty big on.

Also, we are very certain that Judge Protasiewicz does not have an evil laugh.

She does, however, have a big fundraising advantage over Kelly, but don’t let that lead anyone to stay at home, because good Crom, this is finally a chance to return democracy to Wisconsin. Remember what happened when Michigan unfucked its maps? And yes, unfucking Wisconsin’s gerrymander could very well give Democrats the chance to retake the US House in 2024, too. Oh yes, and it sure would be nice not to have a state supreme court that might be inclined to hand the 2024 presidential election to Republicans.

In conclusion, I completely forgot to take my break and wrote this instead, so it’s lunch time! Vote, damn you.

[American Independent / RawStory / Wisconsin Public Radio]

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