Nomination Papers Filed

Just after 8am on Thursday, December 21, I arrived at Waunakee Village Hall and officially submitted my nomination papers for the April 2, 2024 election. By mid-afternoon, they were officially accepted, and verified.

Based on the village web site (https://www.vil.waunakee.wi.us/1131/April-2-2024-Spring-Election), so far, two candidates (myself and Nila Frye) will appear on the ballot to fill three village board seats. Erin Moran is a potential incumbent as well, but has not filed a Declaration of Candidacy nor a Notification of Non-Candidacy yet.

Example nomination form with names, addresses, and signatures blurred out

Comments

A new way to meet the candidate

The April 2, 2024 election is a little over over 90 days away. Certainly there are many people who already know me, there is a lot of information available online with a simple Google Search , my LinkedIn profile is kept up-to-date , and my voting record is available to anyone who wants to look . But the truth remains - one of the best ways to really get to know someone is to sit down and have an actual conversation. My initial thought was to schedule a handful of events where people could just drop in. I may still hold some of those events - dates/times/locations TBD. Of course the biggest problem with any drop-in event is actually having people show up. If I were handing out hundred dollar bills, I'm confident that a lot of people would show up. But lets be honest - talking local politics doesn't have the same draw as cash. And I hope the moral and legal problems with handing out cash to voters while running for office are pretty obvious! So I...

It's all set!

The village web site has been updated, and the 5pm deadline on January 2, 2024 has passed. As such, we now know the four candidates competing for the three village board seats in the April 2, 2024 election. The official listing is available at https://www.vil.waunakee.wi.us/1131/April-2-2024-Spring-Election . The process now allows a short window to challenge nomination signatures. Typically, candidates get extra signatures to ensure that if some are disqualified, they still have sufficient signatures to remain on the ballot, so the challenge period is rarely utilized. There will be no primary election this year as that is only triggered when there are more than two candidates per seat - or in this case, more than six total. A random drawing will be held in the upcoming weeks to determine ballot position. Beyond that, it's just a matter of each candidate sharing their views. With more than three candidates, it's likely that the Waunakee Area Chamber of Commerce ...

Ballot Order Determined

At 8am on Monday morning, January 8, the clerk, a couple of village staff members, and myself (as an observer) gathered at village hall to determine the order of names on the ballot. The names were drawn at random, and the order is as follows: Brian Wallace Nila Frye Erin Moran Joe Zitzelsberger The theory has often been that being first on a ballot provides an advantage to the person listed in that position. In a scenario where there are four people running for three seats, such as in this election, I suspect that advantage is minimal at best. My hope is that the voters of Waunakee look at the candidates - their positions, their voting records, their attendance records, and even the preparation that they put forth for each meeting, and then mark their selections appropriately on the ballot.

Joe4Waunakee

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