Despite estimates this week that turnout for the June 5 recall election could top 60%, there are some Madisonians who do not plan to vote.
Of nearly 60 people surveyed on State Street and at the Memorial Union Terrace this week, 46 said they were planning to vote in the recall or had already done so. Many said they would be surprised to find a non-voter in the city of Madison, and some hardly skipped a beat before imparting their definite intention to show up at the polls.
However, nearly a quarter of those asked said they will not vote due to legal ineligibility or election fatigue. Within this fatigued category exists people who simply don't understand or care about politics, as well as others who are very familiar with the issues but consciously don't want to participate.
Alex Brouillard, 25, is of the first category, and feels the Walker election has no effect on him since he is not involved in a union. Although he says he feels for those who are, he is irritated with the large volume of public activism.
"I hate going down State Street," Brouillard says. "I can't make it down without somebody trying to preach Walker."
Graduate student Josh Lane, 34, has been affected by Walker's policies, but is uneasy about the implications of recalling the governor. Lane worked on the Ralph Nader campaign in 2000, and says that he has since made conscious decisions concerning his political participation.
"Now does it become this game of everyone does half their term and they're just trying to undo what the last person did?" he says. "That doesn't move anything forward."
For this election, Lane is adamant he won't give his vote to either candidate.
"Neither one deserves my vote," he says. "I don't feel that they've earned it, and I'm not going to [vote] until I feel okay about it, not because everyone around me agrees with this or I agree with parts of it."
Amanda Thompson, 34, is on parole and extended supervision for inappropriate usage of an ID, and therefore can't vote. But she says she wouldn't vote even if she could.
"My vote may count, but what is one vote going to do to make it better or worse?" Thompson says.
Thompson sees a need for a larger change. She is more frustrated with the partisan gridlock of the legislature than the decisions of Walker.
"Everyone wants to sit here and blame Scott Walker for putting things into effect when it's just his signature on it," she says.
Alfredo Xelhua, an immigrant, is also ineligible to vote. A father of four, he has lived in Madison for ten years but is not yet a citizen. He says he is very unfamiliar with the upcoming election but says he hopes to gain the right to vote someday when his kids are older.
Other students say they're moving before the election and don't plan on voting beforehand.