Hello
folks, this is attorney Mark Thompson.
This is your Paul Revere show.
This is WAUK 540 AM 101.1 FM.
As you know, the Paul Revere show, we always talking about how to keep Wisconsin moving forward.
And today is a special day.
I have two guests here in the center of the state, Ground Zero Waukesha, to talk about what's happening on the ground and where we're going in 2024.
Kristen Hansen from Blue Sky Waukesha, hello.
Hello.
and Sam Liebert from All Voting Is Local.
Hello.
Hello.
So before we jump into some of the hot issues, what's Blue Sky Waukesha?
Blue Sky Waukesha is a five-year-old progressive but nonpartisan voter education organization for Waukesha County in and for us.
So we focus primarily on Waukesha, Brookfield,
P-Walking, New Berlin, some of the bigger cities in Waukesha County, but we cover the whole county.
So if you're wondering about what's going on with voting rights, when are the elections, when can I register to vote, when is early voting, and who's running, all of that information you can find on our website.
We'll be updating it soon because of course we have candidates now, we know what the ballot's gonna look like.
Every race on your ballot in Waukesha County is going to have
a Democrat and a Republican and in some cases an independent Green Party member, some other people.
So it's really exciting if you want to know who we are recommending you vote for based on our values, which are progressive.
You can go to our website and we'll have that listed.
You can sign up for our newsletters and we'll be sending out some information that's purely voter education, doesn't talk about candidates at all, but reminding people to check their district because we have new maps.
And you might live in a different district now than you did before.
So any information you need to know about voting, we're there.
What are the key values?
You mentioned values.
What are the key values that are pushed blue sky forward?
We believe in equality.
We believe that diversity makes this country stronger.
We believe that unions make this country stronger.
We believe in voting rights and civil rights and civil liberties.
and protecting all of those things.
We believe that public education is important to a democracy.
And if somebody's looking for you because you mentioned your web, what do they look for?
BlueSkyWakasha.org.
Thank you, Kristen.
Sam, all voting is local.
What is all voting is local?
Yeah.
Well, thank you for having me on, Mark.
So all voting is local.
is a 501C3 non-profit, non-partisan organization.
We are based in Washington, D.C., but we are in eight states across the country.
So we're in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.
I think some folks will say that we're only in battleground states, but I would say that we are in states where
the issues of voting rights are under attack or under assault.
And so that's where we work.
And that's where most of our, I would say, input happens is at that level.
And so all voting is local.
Our main objective is to break down those barriers to the ballot box, mainly for historically disenfranchised voters.
And I think most of us would probably agree in this country and especially in Wisconsin sometimes,
that definition expands every day due to the attacks on voting rights.
And so we work closely, as is in our name, all voting is local.
We work closely with municipal clerks, county clerks.
We lobby the legislature to pass good laws that expand access to the belt mocks.
But we also understand that, you know, in Wisconsin, we have a Democratic governor right now, a very...
Republican, gerrymandered Republican legislature.
And so we realized that a lot of work has to be done at the local level.
So we work with municipalities to pass ordinances, to increase protections to election officials, to increase transparency to the election process, and ultimately try to get more funding for our clerks who are overworked and underfunded.
And so if folks want to find us or get involved, they can go to allvotingislocal.org.
And there is a Wisconsin page and if folks want to get involved or learn more about us, we'd love to have them engaged with us.
So just sort of short term, what are some goals all voting is local has for the next six months coming up to the November election?
Sure.
So a lot of the work that we also do is around countering election sabotage.
And so that's things where we are.
sort of monitoring certain counties, cities where there might be issues with perhaps elected officials who may be election deniers or sort of bad faith actors.
And we work with the local communities to ensure that their votes are counted no matter who's in charge, who's administering their election.
So that's a top priority.
Another top priority is, of course, ensuring that our election officials are safe.
In Wisconsin, we have a 25% turnover rate amongst our municipal clerks, which is incredibly high.
And so doing what we can to support clerks to ensure that they're not only that they are safe, but that they feel safe, that their poll workers feel safe.
And then working with the local towns, villages, city council boards to make sure that those folks are getting the resources that they need.
So we work closely.
Right now we're working with Green Bay.
Green Bay is...
looking to expand in-person absentee early voting locations for the longest time.
Green Bay's only had one this coming week, June 11th.
There's a public hearing and I believe a vote to expand to three in-person early voting locations the 10 days before the two weeks before elections.
And so that's a huge deal.
And so that's a large city, 100,000 people.
And so also we worked with communities to, again, increase accessibility to the ballot box to ensure that everyone, whether they're Democrat, Republican, whatever party they are,
or non-party that they have an easy time casting their ballot.
You know, before we talk more politics and elections, before we get started, we were just talking and you shared a story with Kristen and I about what recently happened to you that sort of gives, gave me a feel of what's like, what's happening in the state on the ground.
What is it?
What happened?
Yeah.
So over Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I walk to a yard sign that we had in front of our house for several years.
We've lived in Pewaukee for almost five.
The sign had probably been up for over four years.
And it's just a sign that talked about diversity and inclusion that says in this house, we believe that black lives matter.
No human is illegal.
And the final phrase is love is love.
Right.
Um, all about inclusion.
We're a foster family.
Um, we're a biracial family.
I'm, I'm black.
My wife is white, uh, very modern 21st American family in so many ways.
It seems like that's consistent with a more perfect union, right?
Right.
Right.
Now,
is that what we
hope for
in our, in our order of liberty?
Yeah.
So what happened?
So, uh, we woke up and, uh, Memorial Day and our sign was ripped up in several pieces.
Um, and we would usually probably just chalk it up to maybe kids just, you know, playing pranks.
Uh, but they also left behind a note that said, I hate the LGBT community.
Uh, we also have a Ukrainian flag in our yard.
So they said, you know, this is, this is America, not Ukraine.
Um, oh, and by the way, this was not an animal that ripped up your sign.
Well, if animals are writing, uh, hate notes now, I suppose we should all be concerned, but, um, but we did, we reported it to the police.
The police department took it seriously.
We took to social media and also local Milwaukee area in Waukesha, media coverage happened.
And, you know, usually these types of cases, I don't think are taking this serious or maybe, you know, we didn't think we would ever find out who did this, but it ended up being just a couple of teenage boys.
And I know we were talking before that the programming today that, you know, this is, you know.
This is taught behavior.
This is not
teenage boys learn things at home from mom and dad
Yeah, and and from my the work that I do we also are in the space of you know a countering election sabotage but also monitoring political violence and this is a form of political violence where you do something to someone's house because of their beliefs or political beliefs or philosophies in hopes that they will change how they
uh, vote, you know, whether or not we put up another sign after this act.
Um, and, you know, uh, you know, I like to say that, you know, they sort of messed with the wrong house.
Um, uh, because, you know, I wasn't going to change my ways, but, you know, to any other family who maybe holds beliefs that, you know, Hey, maybe gay and trans people should have the same rights.
Uh, Hey, you know, black lives do matter.
Um, that, um, you know, they may have not put up.
another sign.
They may have taken down the Ukrainian flag.
They may have thought that they had to conform to some other.
And so I think what happened to me is just a snapshot.
I think of what is reverberating around the country and the state in many ways.
You mentioned though that the neighbors came out in support.
More
signs
went up.
That made them feel good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Our neighbors, yeah.
You know, our neighbors came out and supported us.
Well, we've got, I've got like a retired army veteran next door.
We've got a young couple next door, even a more conservative couple across the street.
And after the police canvassed the neighborhood, they all came to our house.
Some of them brought cards, some of them brought gifts, little snacks and stuff for that.
And so it was very reassuring.
That's fabulous.
Go
Piwaki.
Yeah.
Piwaki is great.
It's a great community.
You know, it's, it's, it's, I'm, I'm originally a Jamesville boy and I'm, I'm used to, uh, you know, the rock river, which is nothing like the P walkie Lake, um, but now being a part of Lake country and being in, in this area, um, it's definitely changed just in the last five years that I've been here.
That's what I like to hear.
You know, it's a really wonderful story when we think that this week the United States is celebrating the 80th anniversary.
or honoring the 80th anniversary of D-Day, right, when the allies came together to take out Hitler and end fascism in the world.
And it's so ironic, it seems to me, that in many ways we're back at these same issues, right?
It's
scary.
What is hate going to do?
And whether, you know, can we as a people find our ordered liberty and really, really get to that place?
We're gonna focus on some of the key issues as we live in this crazy world where hate wants to grow and somehow good people have to stand up and end it.
Absolutely.
Hello, this is attorney Mark Thompson.
This is your Paul Revere show.
I am here with Kristen Hansen of Blue Sky Walker Shaw and Sam Liebert of all voting as local.
And we are talking about 2024.
What are the hot issues?
And we got major elections coming up.
We have primaries on August 13th, the big day for the future of the country.
and the future of Wisconsin, November 5th.
So if we look at what the two of you are doing, how is this playing out for young people?
That is a loaded question.
Yeah, it is,
right?
Because, I mean, how do we get to young people on this,
right?
The young people that I know are not super excited about their choices for president.
But they understand the assignment.
Let's put it that way.
They know what rights have been taken away from women.
They know that because of that, nothing that you fight for is ever permanent.
And I think they're smarter than people give them credit for when they look at the attacks on democracy.
I will say that
It is more difficult in Wisconsin for a college student to vote than for anybody else on the street to vote.
They know that it bothers them.
And it, if anything gives them even more incentive to say, you're going to make it harder for me, you're going to, you're going to add a barrier.
Oh, now I'm really going to vote.
So I think that trying to stop people from voting, and I'm sure that Sam works with this all the time with all voting is local.
The more barriers you put up.
the more people say, oh, now I'm definitely going to do it.
So we are continuing to work with our social media, especially targeting young people.
We'll be doing ads on Snapchat that did very well in the past, getting people to go to myvote.wi.gov to register to vote, to see what's on their ballot, to see where their polling place is.
So the wonderful thing about social media is that you can
tailor your messages to an audience.
And if we know that that, and we do know that that's where young people are on Snapchat.
So Blue Sky does a lot of work on Snapchat, making sure people know just what their rights are and where to register to vote and how to vote.
So we'll continue to do that.
Sam, how do you see that?
How do you see youth involvement in all voting as local?
Yeah, so I mean I mean I think I read an article not too long ago that essentially said if you combine the Millennials and Gen Z that their voting block is Greater if not about the same as the boomers and Gen X put together and so You know young like Kristen said I mean I definitely believe that young people are engaged.
They're listening Just because they don't all get their news maybe perhaps from a traditional media that they're not they're not listening They're not paying attention
Um, you know, when it comes to all voting is local, again, young people are one of those historically disenfranchised group of voters.
Um, when young people vote, um, things seem to shift and move in this country.
Um, you know, one thing that we really saw, and I think you probably saw this Mark and Kristen as well was especially in the April, 2023 election here in Wisconsin with the Supreme court race.
That was going to
say, that's a 11 point victory.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, for a state that's 50-50 on most things, to see a candidate get double digit win or any issue get double digit wins is pretty much unheard of.
And so we saw campuses with just lines out the door.
And so people who would try to keep folks from voting or...
try to disenfranchise them.
I think college students are a low hanging fruit that not just college students, but young people in general, to stop them from voting.
And we have everything in Wisconsin from, we have, you know, voter ID.
We have the, you know, how many days you have to live in your jurisdiction.
You know, we have issues sometimes with voting by mail where, or even just the returning of a ballot now because of a Supreme court case, only you can return your ballot, right?
It's no longer just.
Oh, I'm going to run to the city hall, pay my water bill and drop off my son's ballot, right?
And I have a lot of experience with this.
I was a municipal clerk for about a half a decade.
And so I know that's something else that's coming down the road is the Supreme Court's reviewing drop boxes.
And so I know that's a whole other possibility as well.
But again, this is another group of people who have been strategically targeted, not just in Wisconsin, but nationally.
we in the nonprofit sector, especially with all voting as local and others within the voting rights space need to do all that we can to ensure that young folks are able to cast their ballot this November.
One of the other things that we lost, you know, losing the drop boxes was a big issue because the clerk's office is open from like 8 to 430.
I mean, that's not always the time that people can stop by.
Um, and we had used drop boxes in the state for what, the 10 years before Donald Trump decided that we shouldn't have them
or
more.
So, um, I'm, I'm hopeful that the Supreme court will fix that.
Um, but the other thing is that, um, young people in particular, sometimes if you're 18, you don't, if you don't have a driver's license and you don't even know, Oh, I needed to go get a state ID.
We used to have vouching.
You used to be able to walk in with your dad.
And the dad would say, this is my son.
He lives in our house and you could register to vote.
Can't do that anymore.
So I have been an election observer watching a young man be unable to vote because he was temporarily living with his grandparents.
And that that was not good enough for his grandpa to say, this is my grandson and he's living with us.
He didn't have anything to prove that.
Bouching is known all in your loud.
He couldn't vote.
and it's heartbreaking to watch someone come in and and not know that the rules have changed and something that we did for decades is no longer allowed for no good reason.
So there's a lot of things that I think people are unaware of that have changed over the last 10 years and we need to claw back those voting rights.
You know Sam I had mentioned the election for Janet
Justice Janet Protasewicz, the 11 point swing and young people.
But I mean, it was young people and women really led that.
Absolutely.
Do you see women and young people leading the way for progressive change in Wisconsin in 2024?
I
think in Waukesha County.
the women and the young people are absolutely going to make the difference.
Every mother who is disgusted that her kid is going to school and going through an active shooter training should be looking very carefully at who she's voting for.
Every mother who knows that her daughter now has fewer rights than she did, fewer rights than her mother did, should be looking very carefully at who she's voting for.
So I think that women are going to lead on things.
I think they have led on it in the past.
And I think they lead on it in a lot of communities in Milwaukee.
And you're seeing that start to happen again in the suburbs
too.
FM always moving Wisconsin forward.
Hello, this is Attorney Mark Thompson.
This is your Paul Revere show.
This is WAUK 540 AM 101.1 FM here in the center of a purple state where this is very purple.
Waukesha, ground zero for 2024 elections.
Folks, you know, if Waukesha goes progressive, the state and the country can go progressive.
We're here with Kristen Hansen, Blue Sky, Waukesha on Sam Liebert.
All voting is local.
So we have Supreme Court give us a ruling that we could have fair maps.
Governor Evers gave us fairer maps.
And now we have elections coming up in August with these new fair maps and something that's new
and predictable, we have contested races.
It's very exciting.
So go ahead, Kristen, you've been doing this
a while.
I have just been looking at this because it's so interesting to me.
One of the things that we hear a lot about, especially in Waukesha County and really across the state and people who live in what is considered a red county, they hate going to the ballot and there's no choice.
It's the incumbent and there is no other candidate.
And oftentimes,
it was, there's no Democrat running in this district.
Um, I just looked at the numbers and there are only eight uncontested legislative races, uh, this fall, which means that, oh, stay white, stay white.
So except for a handful of very democratic, deep democratic districts and Madison and Milwaukee and one Republican district elsewhere.
every single person will be able to go into the ballot box and make a choice.
There will be a Democrat and a Republican on that ballot.
And I think that's fabulous.
That's what we want.
We want more people to feel like, you know, I could run for this because it's a more balanced district than it used to be.
That was the whole point of wanting to end this gerrymandering was more people running for office, more people seeing a reason to vote.
more people getting to talk about the issues because there are two candidates and they're both viable.
That is democracy.
We should be taking advantage of this by really engaging with this election.
Go and see these candidates.
Follow them on social media so you know where they are.
Go talk to them.
Talk to them about the issues you care about because there are actually going to be real contested races this year.
So, Sam, how does all voting as local view this new arena?
Yeah, so all voting is local.
We don't have an official stance on redistricting or the map issue as an organization, but being here in states, we do realize, though, that this is a game changer.
The fact that, like Kristin said for the first time in...
a decade, a dozen years, there's gonna be a lot of folks across Wisconsin who are gonna have more than one choice, whether it's Republican or Democrat, right, or any other party.
And so I think overall it's a net positive, the fact that Democratic governor and Republican legislature agreed on maps, you know, may have something to do with the court case that was ongoing.
But at the end of the day though, the fact that there was compromise on maps I think is, you know, a positive.
a positive net for the state.
You know, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the bill signing ceremony in the capital and to see people who had been working on this for years and years and just the blood sweat and tears that went into it.
And, you know, my understanding is this is really just sort of the first step, right?
Fair maps, sort of the next step.
My understanding is there's this Fair Maps Coalition that's out there.
They've been working hard on this.
sort of the next step is how do we, how does Wisconsin enshrine a, you know, a nonpartisan redistricting process?
So whether that is by, you know, laws, is that by a constitutional referendum, which we've had quite a few recently and we have more coming up.
But, you know, I think just as a Wisconsinite myself, I think it's a good thing.
The fact, I mean, where I live in Pewaukee,
The assembly district I live in, if you look at the numbers still is pretty red, but the Senate district that it's in now is considered one of those that are up for grabs, a swing district now.
And so the fact that counties like Waukesha have more options, but also some other areas that may have been more predominantly red, also Republicans might have a chance of winning.
And so the governor and the legislature, I think, made a
you know, a political, uh, tactical bet.
Um, but definitely for being the purple state that Wisconsin is, whether Democrats win or don't, um, at least the assembly this time around and we'll have more Senate seats up in 2026 in the midterms, but at least the assembly is going to look more like Wisconsin, right?
It's going to be a purple.
So if the Republicans win, right, the thought is, you know, maybe it's only by three, four or five seats.
Uh, if Democrats win, right, it's made by one or two seats, but.
it forces the parties to work together.
And you have more moderated, in theory, right?
More moderate candidates in the middle.
And so I'm excited to see what the legislature does next year, because win or lose, either party, you know, it's going to be a more purple, purple place.
Yes.
Purple.
We like purple.
Purple's a good, it's my favorite color.
It's a good color.
I prefer blue.
But I'm, I'm, I'm pretty partisan, but.
I do believe that elections that allow choice and a free debate is crucial to democracy, good public policy and just getting good legislation.
I think this will also have an impact on the discussions within the parties and the primaries too.
Because when you were completely gerrymandered,
the middle got lost in no matter whether
it
was all blue or all all red.
And I mean, it's going to be lead for a more diverse and hopefully some new ideas coming out.
I
mean, you
know, people file papers that they're out campaigns are going to start.
And, you know, I think we're going to see, you know, what's on the agenda in this new arena here.
How do you safeguard voting rights?
Yeah, I mean, and that's and that is a hope of ours.
So all voting is local is 501 C3 that we do have a C4 arm all voting is local action, which is what we do our lobbying work under.
And so the thought is, is if we have a not if I mean, we're going to have a very different looking legislature in January.
There's been record number of retirements, resignations.
other folks running and winning offices around the state.
And so the thought is, again, moderating forces prevail, again, no matter which party is in control of the legislature, that there's enough sort of folks of reason, pro-democratic, lower-case-d legislators that want to.
So this past session, I can give you a laundry list of bills that failed that would have been good for election administration.
There was a bill that would have increased protections for harassing, assaulting, or going after a clerk or their poll workers.
There would have been a bill.
I mean, I think that is a very, very important issue that doesn't get much attention.
I hear about it because I'm an elections commission.
So we hear through the grapevine the pressures on municipal clerks.
And I think people
forget, right?
Wisconsin has decentralized elections.
They're run at the municipal level.
They're 1,000...
One of only two states that does it,
anyway.
1,850 municipalities.
Some of these clerks work part-time.
And, you
know,
look, folks, I mean, it was, people would just, historically, your neighbor's volunteering, you do it and everybody goes and helps.
And all of a sudden, now you're getting...
clerks that are being intimidated for just doing what they're supposed to do.
And the legislature could not find a way to pass a bill that said you cannot harass and try to intimidate your clerk.
That's sad.
Well, I think it sends a message.
Yeah.
Right.
When you have the ability to stop it and you don't.
Yeah.
Isn't that a green, green?
Yeah.
Isn't that a per se green light?
Yeah.
It's, you know, and.
It's, you know, look, yeah, we've got, like you said, we've got 1850 municipal clerks, 72 county clerks, two thirds of clerks are part time.
So this isn't even their full time job.
They're either retired or they have a nine to five Monday through Friday.
And this is, you know, they're a local town clerk.
They were probably elected and they do this out of public service.
And in Wisconsin, I think the numbers are in the 90th percentile of clerks are women.
And so I think also there is, you know, a
I don't know if it's sexist or what to call it, but, you know, violence against women is also an issue.
And so, you know, a lot of our clerks, they just don't run elections.
I mean, I used to be a clerk and, you know, usually elections are about 10, 15, 20% of what we do.
We also take meetings for minutes.
We also file paperwork with the state and federal government.
And in a lot of these communities, clerks are sort of the de facto, you know, town manager in a lot of ways because they
are the only full time person if they are full time.
And they sort of, you know, they issue alcohol licenses and dog licenses and all these other things.
And so there's all these other reasons that people could also harass and intimidate, but obviously the elections are a huge part.
And, you know, when the legislature doesn't pass a bill to increase protections to these frontline heroes of democracy, it's sort of a dog whistle to people that, you know,
keep doing what you're doing when it comes to these clerks.
And we also see huge turnover amongst our poll workers as well, folks not wanting to come back.
My neighbor, who I think I talked about earlier, who rallied to us, retired army veteran.
She worked at the polls in Milwaukee for decades.
And a couple election cycles ago, she quit because she was scared.
This army veteran, this woman is tough as nails.
And she no longer wanted to be a poll worker because she was sick of the little comments, this and that.
And she says, Sam, I think something's going to happen eventually.
And and so, you know, what does what signal does that send to folks?
And so that's again, all voting is local.
We're really doubling down on trying to get villages, towns, cities to whether it's an ordinance or a resolution to to do what the legislature has failed to do is show that support to the clerk, show that support to her poll workers.
that we've got your back and that this type of rhetoric, this type of attitude towards you and your staff is not acceptable.
You know, Kristen, you had mentioned, you know, the drop boxes.
This is tied to clerks too.
Many small communities, the clerk's offices are home.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, people just don't think about it.
That's why drop boxes were utilized.
Or again, the clerk's office is only open five hours a week.
When are you supposed to bring your ballot?
It's, yeah.
No, and the clerk's historically had set up common sense drop boxes.
Well, our own clerk here in Waukesha said to me, the drop box where you put your tax payment lands in my office.
What can be safer than that?
Why can't you put it in there?
The clerk's want drop boxes.
And the other thing everybody needs to remember, it was fine until
45 loss yep, right it was fine.
It was encouraged until 45 lost and the That's sort of where we're at the Task ahead is like how do what do people do?
Right Kristen Hansen blue sky walk ashore Sam Liebert all voting is local
It is June, and we have August is soon, November is around the corner.
What are people to do?
Vote.
No, I know, but I mean, if you want to participate, what do you do now?
I mean, I think those people are asking, what can I
do to help?
I do think that they should sign up to be poll workers.
If you are able to do that for a day.
You get paid.
It's a job.
Make it so that when your neighbors come in to vote, they see a friendly face.
They see you as part of the process.
I think that helps people trust the process more.
If you can't do that, be an election observer.
The League of Women Voters does a broad program that you can get training.
Participate in some way and tell everyone that you know to
vote.
This is your Paul Revere show, Moving Wisconsin Forward.
This is your Paul Revere show.
This is attorney Mark Thompson.
This is WAUK 540 AM 101.1 FM.
I was trying to move Wisconsin forward.
Kristen Hansen from Blue Sky Waukesha and Sam Liebert from All Voting is Local.
Our guests and we're having this conversation about Fair Maps.
contested elections, all sorts of new exciting things coming up.
But we're living in the era now of social media, AI, and misinformation.
Sam, how do you see that playing out?
Yeah, so like we were talking about earlier about young folks and getting involved in
Voting, how do we get them out?
I mean, so many folks nowadays, uh, don't get their information anymore from the five o'clock.
I, I'm old.
I DVR my, uh, you know, uh, Lester Holt, the five o'clock news, right?
And I watch it even if I already know everything that's going on.
But, uh, so many folks get information now from Tik Tok and Snapchat.
Um, I suppose Facebook for those of us that are still there, um, Twitter or X is now known.
And there is so much information out there and a lot of it is I think a lot of us in this in this room know is is Misinformation it's disinformation.
So whether it's an outright lie or it's a spin on the truth Or it looks real or it looks like it could be a legitimate news source Is just letting folks know that before you you like something before you retweet or reshare it Open the story read it out.
Maybe fact check could take a second to Google it to see if there's other
legitimate news sources that back up this claim.
Take more than a second.
Yes, please.
Absolutely.
I mean, I didn't
mean to rub, but I don't
want
to think through reality and what's true.
It is going to be harder and harder and harder.
I mean, I just watched social media, AI and the ads that are completely fabricated are, are almost.
It's impossible to notice with the, you know, with the eye unless somebody's saying this is AI, you wouldn't know.
It's not a matter of if anymore.
It's a matter of when there will be a completely fabricated Joe Biden giving a speech and saying blah, blah, blah.
Never happened.
Same thing on with any other candidate.
It's going to happen.
And I know the social media companies are trying to figure out how to identify fake things and pull them down as soon as they can.
But something goes up.
It's shared, you know,
thousands of times before somebody can even say, wait a minute, that's not true.
So you really do have to be discerning in what you're believing.
In Wisconsin, thankfully, as much as I harp on our wonderful legislature in Wisconsin, but a bipartisan bill did pass this session.
The governor signed it.
Representative Clint Anderson out of Beloit, a good friend of mine.
um, authored the bill that now says if you use AI for the creation of a political ad in Wisconsin, you have to have that disclaimer that artificial intelligence with you.
So it's, you know, it's, it's a, it's a big step, but it's also a baby step because it seems like when we have new, um, machinations of the, of humanity, something like AI that's really revolutionary, our legislators always just seem to be behind the ball.
And so to see Wisconsin at least taking the step was pretty reassuring this past session.
That's
great.
You know, I think.
It's sort of the challenge, though, to each of us as human beings to be responsible for our democracy.
I mean, and part of that is just to make sure what you share is legit, right?
That it's not just hate-based.
It's just not fabricated, but it is a legit topic of discussion.
So besides paying attention to all the fake news.
The 2024 elections are pretty important.
Kristen, Blue Sky Walker Show, what are you saying to folks out there that want to know more, want to participate?
What do they do?
I think that we all have to remember that democracy is not a spectator sport.
You really need to take some time to engage with these candidates.
They all have events.
You can find the events on their websites or their socials.
Sometimes they'll be on Facebook or whatever.
Figure out where this person is.
Where can you go and meet them?
Contact them and have a house party.
And say, our local candidate is going to come to my house, invite your neighbors, have a discussion.
Do that even after the election with your elected officials.
These are people who are making incredibly important decisions.
on your behalf in your name.
You should know them.
You should know who they are.
So get really involved.
If you find someone who's running in your district who you really love and you're like this guy or gal is the one who can really make a difference in our community, volunteer for them.
All of these candidates need help.
Volunteer for whatever party you align with.
Really get in there and for the next five months,
actually do the work of a democracy and help make people more informed about the issues, about the candidates.
Maybe you don't want to get involved with a particular candidate.
What is your issue?
Is it the environment?
Is it reproductive justice?
Is it guns?
What is your issue?
There's an organization out there that is working on that issue, volunteer with them.
The whole point is to create an informed electorate.
So people are making informed choices.
Sam, what do you see?
What's all voting is local.
What's the rallying cry in 2024?
I mean, I think the, the, the sort of overall message, the rallying cry, um, you know, I think it's just, it's, it's be aware, uh, get involved and, and vote.
Um, you know, like Kristen said, this is not a spectator sport.
I know every two to four years we say this is the most consequential election of our lifetime.
But this is what really is.
But we really mean it this time.
No, I think it's important for folks at all levels, all backgrounds to be engaged.
I mean, at no point in human history do we all have access to, I mean, we literally have all the data of the entire world in our pockets, right, in our hands and our smartphones.
It doesn't take much to learn about candidates.
Usually, if you message them, you can get ahold of them.
But I think also too, on the other side of the coin, the election administration that all voting is local works on, reach out to your local clerk, ask how to get involved, whether it's becoming a poll worker, an observer, or even just the next time you're in to pay your utility water bill, say thank you to the clerk.
Say thank you to their staff for what they do because being on the other side of the desk, it can be a very lonely place.
And so I think when you,
When your clerk knows that they have the support of the community, it goes a long way.
Thank you, Sam Liebert, all voting as local.
Thank you, Kristen Hansen, Blue Sky, Waukesha.
Folks, get active, register to vote, vote, get your neighbors involved.
Only together can we have a truly multiracial democracy, a one perfect union.
Please and thank you.
This is your Paul Revere Show.
