Election 2016: The Wisconsin Open Primary Update
Post date: Apr 18, 2016 6:23:34 PM
By: Korey Alder, Photography Editor
Posted April 12th, 2016
The race for the White House finally came to our state last Tuesday, and over 2 million Wisconsinites came out to vote for their preferred candidate. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this year’s primary showed the highest voter turnout since 1972, with 49% of those registered to vote actually showing up to do so. This showcases the great interest that people are taking in this election, with much at stake in the world and at home.
Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders won the Wisconsin primaries for their respective parties, both by significant margins. Republicans had the choice between the same three candidates as in the last set of primaries: Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and John Kasich. Cruz received 531 thousand votes (around 48%) and was granted 36 delegates. Trump came second with 386 thousand votes (35%) and gained 6 delegates. Kasich came last with 155 thousand votes (14.5%), even despite the fact that even if he were to win all the remaining delegates, he would be unable to reach the required 1,237 delegates. Those voting for Kasich likely did so simply out of dislike for Cruz and Trump, still hoping that Kasich may take the nomination at a contested convention. The Democrats continued their battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and Sanders took the lead in Wisconsin with 568 thousand votes (around 57%) and 48 delegates, while Clinton received 432 thousand (43%) and 38 delegates. The delegate count thus currently stands as: Trump - 743, Cruz - 517, Kasich - 143, with 882 remaining on the Republican side; Clinton - 1,749 (of which 496 are superdelegates), and Sanders - 1,062 (of which 31 are super delegates) and 1,955 still remaining on the Democrats’ side.
If you’re interested in learning more about the race in Wisconsin, check out the following page on The New York Times, which visualizes various voter data from the recent primary: