Madison is not Las Vegas. Madison voted out a Casino and what happens in Madison spreads across the State of Wisconsin. When Madison’s right to impose business with a higher minimum wage requirement was challenged in State Court, the Court allowed it to stand because it was not in logical conflict with State Law. Wisconsin municipal governments can rightfully do anything the State of Wisconsin does not forbid them to do. This includes a right to exceed state school district spending caps if voters approve the increase in taxation.
Madison School District Question 2 authorizes spending increases without making it clear that spending increase means tax increase. The word tax is nowhere on the ballot even though the increased spending can only be achieved by increased taxation. This is wording designed to obtain a yes vote rather than putting an unbiased question to a citizen. The resolution includes the phrase “and continuing thereafter” which creates a permanent right to place debt obligation upon city property owners above the debit limit authorized by the State. A debt which is reapplied year after year at the discretion of the government. A debt which can never be satisfied.
The issue with the election is that a majority of one vote can grant this permanent power to tax property even if only three people vote. Elections are devises for measuring the will of the citizens and like any measurement there can be variations in accuracy. If three people vote, no statistical theory will assert that this small a sample is an accurate representation of the majority. The smaller the sample the easier it is for the measured result to be divergent from the true reality. This is how the system is set up and it will take State Level Legislation to build in public safe guards against these special elections designed to favor and obtain a specific result. This vote is for unlimited millions of dollars.
If this election passes by a small majority the accuracy of the results must be questioned and the first question to ask is how the actual voters were identified? The way it works in Madison is that I speak my name and address and if it matches what is printed on the list then I get to vote. This is voter self-identification. The city did nothing to confirm my identity and therefore has no basis for claiming a Madison resident did the actual voting. The voter lists are just printed pages and copies can be made and lines memorized. Hi, my name is “filling in the blank” and I live at “state address”.
