Category: Fact briefs

Yes. Wisconsin families have multiple school choice options, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. One option is open enrollment, which allows students to enroll in schools in districts other than where they live or attend virtual charter schools.

No. Although Republican lawmakers redrew legislative districting maps in 2011 that in effect highly favored their electoral outcomes in the Wisconsin State Legislature, experts have argued that Wisconsin’s natural political geography also is somewhat biased in favor of Republicans.

Yes. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes received about 42,000 more votes than Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels. Both Barnes and Michels lost their statewide races.

Yes. The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has the responsibility to enforce federal voting rights statutes including the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in states, which it does through observing elections in the field. Federal elections monitoring has taken place since the passage of the act.

Yes. Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who won his re-election race early Wednesday, received five more votes than Republican candidate Tim Michels in the city of Port Washington, according to unofficial results from Ozaukee County.

Yes. In 1915, a state law was passed in Wisconsin stipulating that absentee ballots “must be opened only at the polls on election day while said polls are open.” While there have been minor language changes and renumberings throughout the years, the original law remains in place.

Yes. Wisconsin’s 1849 ban on abortion is the oldest in the nation that could go into effect post-Roe, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health advocacy and research organization.