Washington County, WI – A surge in write-in candidates for City of Hartford mayor after a criminal investigation concerning misdemeanor charges was filed against Washington County Board Supervisor – District #17/ Hartford mayor, Timothy C. Michalak.
Michalak is up for reelection as mayor and county supervisor.
Michalak is facing charges for Carrying a Concealed Weapon and Carrying a Firearm in a Public Building in violation of Wisconsin State Law. The supervisor implied to detectives that as an elected official he believed he was exempt from the law and could carry his firearm inside police departments and the sheriff’s office.
There are five registered write-in candidates for the mayoral seat which include:
Joe Dautermann, Scott Henke, Terrence Perfect, Todd Bultman, and Tina Savage.
According to the City of Hartford clerks office, Savage filed as a registered write in on Friday, April 1, 2022.
“We did not receive any registered write-in candidates for any of the County supervisor districts,” said Ashley Reichert, Washington County Clerk.
All write-ins must be registered in order to be considered for an open position on the ballot.
Spring elections are generally lower voter turnout. “I’m not sure if it’s less spending by candidates or less knocking doors or whatnot,” said Reichert, “Maybe people just forget the election’s happening, or they don’t know the candidates.
“But April is always typically a lower turnout, especially when it’s presidential preference, it’s usually much higher, which only happens every four years.”
Reichert speculated on the upcoming turnout at the polls. “Maybe in our higher-turnout municipalities, 30% — but I’m thinking it’ll be lower to mid-20s,” she said.
In Kewaskum the School District has one write-in candidate as Karen Strobel registered as a write-in candidate before the Friday, April 1 deadline.
Others filling out the Kewaskum School Board ballot include Bradley Petersen, Ryan Engelking, and Timothy Ramthun. A sample ballot is below.
“For the City of Hartford, poll workers will be tallying registered write-ins on election night,” said Reichert. “The actual totals will be verified when clerk Lori Hetzel completes her canvas, then you’ll be able to get the actual total of registered write-ins.”
Noting the lengthier delivery times with the United States Postal Service, Reichert said, “I would strongly recommend that anybody who has mailed their absentee ballot, especially if they just did it last week, that they check on myvote.wi.gov You can actually track the status.
“The Postal Service actually updates the tracking when they scan in the envelope. So, I would recommend just checking that and if the municipal clerk has not received your absentee ballot by midday on Election Day, you can actually ask for that to be rejected, and then they can actually vote at the polls.”
Reichert said, “People are pretty good about getting their absentee ballots in on time. A lot of times, even if they receive it in the mail, they drop it off in person versus mailing it back.”
The polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday April 5, 2022, and close at 8 p.m.
Ballots that are not received by the Tuesday, April 5, 2002, 8 p.m. cutoff will not be counted.
