Ozaukee turnout tops 77% in contentious midterms

Ozaukee County residents turned out in force Tuesday, with 77.24% of registered voters casting ballots in the contentious midterm election.

The highest percentage of voters to turn out was in the Village of Grafton’s 15th Ward, where 189 of 196 registered voters, or 96.4%, cast ballots, according to unofficial results from the Ozaukee County Clerk’s office.

The lowest percentage was in the Village of Newburg’s 3rd Ward, where 34 of 58 registered voters, or 58.6%, cast votes.

In the City of Port Washington, Clerk Susan Westerbeke said voters came out despite the rain.

“We have been extremely busy all day at the polling locations,” she said. “Many times throughout the day we had lines and a large number of voters registering as well.”

By 5 p.m. Tuesday, she said, turnout in the city was at 64% “and we anticipate being busy until the polls close at 8 p.m.

“Everything is running very smoothly.”

Westerbeke said the city issued 2,594 absentee ballots, or 31% of registered voters, before Tuesday.

Town of Port Clerk Heather Krueger said Monday that 24% of the town’s registered voters took out absentee ballots.

Of the town’s 1,102 registered voters, 844, or 76.6%, cast ballots in the election.

While county voters followed the trend in turning out for Tuesday’s election, they bucked the majority in the state in casting ballots for the state’s next governor.

Ozaukee County voters cast 26,708 ballots, or 52.4%, for Republican candidate Tom Tiffany and 24,119 ballots, or 47.4%, for Democrat David Crowley.

Crowley won the statewide election over Tiffany, 54% to 46%.

In the race for attorney general, county voters cast 52.3% of their votes, or 26,543, for Republican Eric Toney and 47.7%, or 24,223, for Democrat Josh Kaul.

Kaul, the incumbent, won the race with 55% of the vote compared to Toney’s 45%.

County voters also cast their votes in favor of three state referendums — one to ban the governor from using his partial veto power to raise taxes or fees, one to keep government from ordering places or worship closed  because of a state of emergency — including a public health emergency — and the third to bar any governmental entity from discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to certain groups in contexts including contracting, employment and education.

Local voters also voted for incumbent Paul Melotik, a Republican, over Democratic challenger Dana Glasstein in the Assembly’s District 22 race, 52.4% to 47.5%; incumbent Deb Andraca, a Democrat, over Republican Aleaner Pabonnie in the District 23 race, 55.4% to 44.5%; Republican Bernie Newman over Democrat Dennis Degenhardt in the District 58 race; and Republican Bradley Petersen over Democrat Jack Holzman in the District 59 race.

Locally, Sheriff Christy Knowles received 36,934 votes, or 96.7%, and Clerk of Courts Connie Mueller received 35,550 votes, or 96.9%, to be re-elected to their posts. Both were running unopposed.