Wisconsin Has Some of The Most Powerful Voters, Here’s Why

November 5th is fast approaching and that's the day we normally cast our ballot for many things.  It's much easier to vote than it once was.  You can vote early, you can vote by mail and you can still show up in person a check off the boxes.  It's a smorgasbord of voting options. Make sure you vote, it's your civic duty.

Each person is given a vote, one person equals one vote, right?  Yes and no.  Yes, the people choose members of Congress but the president is chosen by a semi-secretive group known as the Electoral College.

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is not an actual place but a process.  Here’s how the whole presidential pick-a-palooza goes down: first, we gather a group of electors, kind of like an exclusive club but instead of cocktails, they’re there to cast votes for the president and vice president. These electors meet up to make their choices, and then the grand finale happens: Congress counts the votes. It's like the ultimate game show but with way more suspense and fewer confetti cannons! Maybe that's where we've gone wrong all these years.  More confetti canons!

Now, while most candidates in other elections get the straightforward popular vote treatment, the president and vice president are on a whole different level. They don’t just waltz in based on who the crowd loves the most. Nope! They’re chosen through the Electoral College, a clever little creation from the Constitution that strikes a balance between letting the people have a say and keeping Congress in the mix. It’s the founding fathers’ version of a compromise.

Why is Wisconsin So Important to the President?

WalletHub decided to put on its detective hats and compare how much sway voters really have in the presidential and Senate races. To do this, they whipped up a special recipe called the Voter Power Score, measuring each state’s clout in both elections. A power ranking for voters.  You might think of it like a fantasy league for democracy!

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A state that is high up on that list is Wisconsin at #5.  Wisconsin is a swing state where Democrats and Republicans have similar levels of support and this year shows no signs of being any different.  In 2016, the Badger state chose Donald Trump and in 2020, they flipped the script and chose Joe Biden.  No telling which way they will fall in 2024, and that is why so many politicians pay attention to and spend much time in Wisconsin.

It's felt that is why the Republicans chose Wisconsin to have their nominating convention there,  Once Joe Biden withdrew from the election, Wisconsin was the first place Kamala Harris went as a top-of-ticket candidate for a campaign rally.