Heading to the polls April 2, voters in the Stanley-Boyd area will have a full ballot, a school referendum and several candidates both local and elsewhere. With city of Stanley voters heading to the Chapman Park Community Center and Boyd residents to the village hall, results are not without consequence.
Among those items on the ballot is a referendum for Stanley-Boyd Area Schools. With the school board capped at $1 million without voter approval, voters will be deciding on whether to authorize the issuance of bonds to borrow up to $23 million for district building improvements.
Included in the ask are funds for a district office, centralized cafeteria, and three station gym, as well as upgrades to the current gym to make it more like an auditorium. Should the referendum pass, the district will have five years to act on the bond approval. The question does not require the district to borrow the entire $23 million for improvements, but authorizes it to.
Also on the ballot locally this spring are several offices, including mayor, alderman, village trustee, school board, county board, and more.
Starting with the city of Stanley, Mike Henke is running for mayor as a registered write-in. Also running as registered write-ins in the city of Stanley are Mark Fitzsimmons (Ward 1), Josh Seidl (Ward 2) and Aaron Dickson (Wards 4 - 7 and 9).
Running for election in Boyd are village trustee Casey Dorn (incumbent) and Joshua Walters, filling the seat held by Dale Isaacs.
Running for school board are Chad Verbeten (Area One) and Ryan Lewallen (Area Four). School board members are elected at large within the district but must live in the place they represent.
Running for county board on the eastern end of Chippewa County are Jim Ericksen (District 8), Matthew Peterson (District 10), Karen Lotts (District 11), as well as a contested race between Timothy Goettl and Lisa Marie Westman for District 6.
Shifting away from local races to state and federal questions, the April 2 ballot is not without consequence there as well, with two referenda questions related to the Wisconsin State Constitution, as well as a partisan presidential primary.
As to the first two questions, both ask voters if they want to amend the State Constitution, in different ways. The first referendum question addresses the use of private funds in elections, being stated as follows:
“Use of private funds in election administration. Shall section 7 (1) of article III of the constitution be created to provide that private donations and grants may not be applied for, accepted, expended, or used in connection with the conduct of any primary, election, or referendum?”
The second question related to the State constitution addresses who can perform election related tasks, being worded as follows:
“Election officials. Shall section 7 (2) of article III of the constitution be created to provide that only election officials designated by law may perform tasks in the conduct of primaries, elections, and referendums?”
Lastly, voters will have the presidential primary candidates to choose from, the partisan primary to choose the nominee for each party listing five Republican candidates and two Democratic ones.
The candidates listed for the Republican Party primary are Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Donald Trump, as well as “uninstructed delegation” and “write-in.”
The candidates listed for the Democratic Party Primary are Joseph Biden and Dean Phillips, with “uninstructed delegation,” and “write-in”potential choices as well, the winner of the primary taking Wisconsin’s delegates to the summer convention.
All but Trump have dropped out on the Republican side, while Biden has availed the number of delegates needed to win the nomination from his party.
