Welcome everybody to midday magazine for this Friday, August 9th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here in part two at 430.
We're going to talk with our friends.
Thanks to our good friends at Visit Rome Bureau.
We're going to talk to Brandon and Tina.
But the Rudolph Old Tractor Club show and car crews coming up.
Looking forward to that.
Looking forward to this conversation with our good friend.
Wood County clerk Trent Minor right now.
Trent, always good to see you.
Thanks for the time.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate coming in.
Thanks James.
You are always busy.
And this time of year, you have to be incredibly busy.
So not only do we appreciate the time, but appreciate all the work that you do in the community
making sure to spread the word.
Not only keeping people informed and how to vote and where they can and all of those details.
But the integrity part of this, we greatly appreciate.
And it's certainly noteworthy on this.
And we'll probably talk about that in a bit.
But Trent, first up, I want to talk about what things people need to know.
Or maybe a better question is, what are some of the main questions you were getting asked this time of year?
Well, and this is kind of the goofy election.
So we do have an election coming up this coming Tuesday, August 13th.
Pulls open at 7 a.m., they will close at 8 p.m.
And this is kind of that goofy election where you have to stay within one party.
This is a partisan primary where the parties choose their candidates to move forward to the general election in November.
So you're going to, when you get the ballot, you're going to see it.
And for those that voted absentee, you've already seen this.
But those going to the polls on election day, at the very top of the ballot, you're going to choose your party preference.
That makes sure that if you happen to vote outside of those parties, just the votes in that party counts.
So you're going to choose Democrat, Republican.
There's a total of five different parties on that ballot.
So stay within that party and everything will be good.
So this is kind of, like I said, goofy election, but it's not all that new.
Every, you know, I've been working elections for 30 years.
And I always get the question, well, when did this start?
When do I want to vote who I want to vote for?
Well, the answer is 1907.
We've been having a partisan primary for quite a long time.
It predates me a couple of years.
So, yeah, this is just the opportunity for parties to choose their nominees.
Trent, I'm really glad you bring that up.
First off, I feel for you and many of your co-workers that have to answer or deal with some of that stuff.
But it is the where we are in.
And as you mentioned, you've been doing this a long time.
I can't imagine how many different questions you've been asked over the years.
But it brings, I have to say, it brings something like to me about the informed voter.
And how important it is to not just get out there and vote.
That's vital.
That is how we keep democracy running.
But being informed and understanding what your vote means and how elections work.
I think some of the discourse and some of the issues that you and many of your colleagues around the country deal with
is in part because people just don't take the time to learn how elections work.
I think knowledge is always the greatest weapon we have against misinformation or against some of this stuff.
I also, journalistically, will mention my daughter for the last, I want to say, three elections has been a volunteer.
Has worked the polls and everything.
And so I have a little bit of a stake in this.
It's my oldest I care about her. I'm a little protective.
But even without that, I'm protective of democracy.
I care about democracy.
I love that we live in a country.
We get to vote.
We get to do these things.
It gets normalized a little bit the older we get.
But this is something that isn't, it doesn't come without work.
Democracy takes work.
I believe that you, it should be easy for you to vote, but the act of voting.
But as far as when you cast your vote, that should take some thought.
And I think that that's important in understanding how the differences of a primary election or this,
you know, and those things are part of that work.
And what goes into the election?
I mean, it's not just say a week or two before Election Day, we've actually been dealing with this election since about the middle of April.
When we start dealing with candidates.
And then they start asking questions, okay, what do I need to do to qualify to get on that ballot?
And by the way, please thank your daughter for working those polls.
We need as many of those young people as we can get.
That's fabulous.
But yeah, the election work starts well before.
And we talk about election integrity.
There's those checks and balances in there throughout that process to make sure that everything on that ballot is accurate,
that the votes that are tallied, are accurate, we will go through flaming hoops of fire to make sure that everything is done accurately.
And to make sure that we have a full proof election that we can trust the results that come out.
I have every faith in the world in Wood County in the processes that we have.
I have every faith in my 34 municipal clerks and the hundreds of poll workers that we have in chief election inspectors that they're doing the job right.
And we're getting those results that we need.
But this is a long process that we've been working through to get just to this point.
I appreciate the back, you know, look behind the curtain a little bit again.
I think that that's the kind of stuff that squashes a lot of that.
A lot of that jargon, if I can just say myself.
Now, I don't mean jargon in the sense of everybody is, especially as American.
You are entitled to question things.
But once you get the answers, kind of move on.
That's just me speaking for me here.
We have a change in the guard, I think, happening right now from this election to the last.
Where we're seeing, I'm not talking about political parties.
I mean the American people, the stats, the surveys show.
We are tired of the divisiveness.
We are tired of fighting with each other.
Doesn't mean we all want to hold hands and sing kumbaya.
But we want to get along and we want to treat each other better.
And be able to be in trust our election process.
I don't see anything wrong with that.
I think that that's a smart thing.
If I'm casting a vote, I want to know.
But once you know, move on.
You don't get to, hey, here's all the information.
Here's the facts. Here's the details.
We have talked for the last three, four years to representatives on this radio station,
talking about how much more the elections are, you know, Scott Krug.
And some others have been out there and they're looking at these things.
And they're checking checks and balances.
They're dotting eyes, cross-empties.
We're here now.
We're getting going.
Trust the process.
And if I can say one last thing, trust your fellow Wisconsinites.
Trust each other.
That's all we're asking for.
These aren't strangers doing this.
These are neighbors working these polls and collecting these votes and everything.
Absolutely.
I mean, I myself, born in wood counties, residing wood county,
have been my entire life.
Won't tell you how many years that is.
But it's been a long time.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion.
You're not entitled to your own set of facts.
The facts are the facts.
And then once you are given those facts,
you need to follow through and ask questions if there are questions.
And we love questions.
We love questions.
And we're really lucky in wood county, truly.
Certainly, we, yeah, I know the divisiveness in politics and stuff.
And, you know, it's clerk for the county off of the election subject,
but our wood county board.
Yeah, you're entitled to disagree.
And those guys do.
And I was on the board for 13 years.
We can disagree.
But, fortunately, in wood county, and we are really an outlier,
and we can talk to our good friend Lance Pummel about that, too,
where our board really does get along so well.
We are an outset of the entire state, where I mean,
you go against me and I'm never going to talk to you again.
That's just not the case.
I mean, the people that come to the board,
and they're elected representatives.
They come to the board.
They do the best they can.
They make the decisions that they think are right.
But they don't agree.
They're still laughing and joking out the door.
And that's just the way it should be.
That's the way the government should be.
And that's when you get most things done, too.
Yeah.
I mean, you look at our jail project that we have right now,
$98 million, and that was with one no vote.
I mean, wow.
Wow.
Wow.
That's really good.
Yeah.
That's really good.
That you're given the facts, and you make a decision based on that.
Encourage the county to take some pride in this.
Yeah.
I appreciate that, Trent.
I appreciate you noting those things.
And I don't think, especially even myself,
you get caught up in the day to day.
You don't think about these things very often.
It also can make you feel that much more confident going into that poll
and making casting your vote.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And there are changes.
I'm not saying that the elections in Wisconsin are perfect.
There should be some law changes, and our good friend Scott Krug
can attest to that.
And he has been absolutely fabulous to work with.
Actually, our county clerks association gave him our highest honor this past year.
Him and the ranking member on the Democratic side.
Yep.
Both Scott and Representative Lee Snodgrass got that top award because they do work
bipartisan.
Do they agree?
I can assure you they do not.
But they're respectful about it.
Yeah.
When they call each other and talk about these things,
they're also talking about their kids.
Hey, what would you do this last weekend?
Hey, that's the way it should be.
Good grief.
That's what America's all about.
Great.
Well said.
So we try to embody that here, especially with Scott or Senator Testin
or some of the regular guests that we get.
We are a democracy station, and we promote that very strongly.
But we also know that we have voices on this network that do go lean one way or the other.
It's important to us at WFHR to represent all parties,
all sides, and to be just down the middle.
And we're able to do that with those conversations.
You can go listen to any of the last seven years Scott and I have talked.
And we may butt heads about this.
And by the end of it, we're laughing or talking about the brewers or something like that.
Yes.
And that's the way it should be.
That's the way it should be.
That's the way we're brought up as kids.
I mean, if we were redisrespectful of any sort,
our parents made sure that didn't happen.
Ooh, yeah.
You know, that just didn't happen again.
Sometimes my mom still does.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's good.
Mine too.
And that's good.
But yeah, going into the elections and stuff, trust your neighbors.
Trust your neighbors.
You trust them to feed your dog if you're on vacation.
Trust them to check your mail.
Trust them to run these elections, the poll workers.
They're running them the best they can.
They're following the laws.
And that's all we can do is just follow the laws and make sure everything works out right.
We're speaking with Wood County Clerk Trent Minor right now.
Talking about the upcoming election coming up in August 13th of fall primary.
You mentioned that this one is a little bit different than your normal elections
as you're voting for one party in that.
Trent, is there anything else about this upcoming primary?
That people should know as far as what's going to be on that ballot?
Sure.
So on the ballot, we can, you know, it's going to be US Senator, your representatives to Congress,
state assembly people, state Senate.
You'll see those on your ballot.
You'll see the county offices on the ballot.
You'll see my offices on the ballot.
But if you flip the ballot over, there's a couple of referendum questions that have to deal with
the power of the legislature versus the governor in spending federal money.
I'm not going to weigh down into that.
That's for politicians to do.
And I'm not, well, I am, but I'm not.
Right.
So we'll let, but if you have any questions on that, there is a type C notice.
That's what we call it.
It's a notice that is published at every polling place that will go through the effects of a yes or no question.
Take a look at that.
It'll be in the paper this weekend if you get the rapids paper or the Marshall paper.
Those, those questions and answers get answered there.
The poll workers probably are, poll workers should not be giving you their opinion.
Please don't ask them.
It's just not appropriate because they're there to do a job.
And we aren't there to provide our personal opinions that would be wrong.
So take a look at that.
If there are questions, certainly take a look at that.
Notice that I'll answer them for you.
But please, please be aware that backside of the ballot has two questions on it that you should be looking at.
Not that no election necessarily is certainly from your perspective easy.
I don't mean to say that this one is an easy one or anything.
But it is as we are leading into the November presidential elections and everything.
It is kind of a bit of a pregame, if you will, a startup of not only,
certainly getting out there and voting, but knowing where to vote, making sure that you're registered, some of these things.
Yes, certainly.
I mean, we kind of gear up all year long for the big Kahuna in November.
Yeah.
You know, we have a February primary where we have a turnout of usually about, you know, say 15, 20%.
Then we get into the April election, probably a 30, 40%.
So we get a few more voters in, kind of get the lay of the land.
We get into the August primary.
Okay, we have to deal with that partisan stuff, you know, and that's kind of, it's on deal.
Yeah.
But we're getting ready for that big election turnout in November.
And I think really, I've been around the polling places, talk to the clerks.
We're ready.
We're ready to go.
Yeah.
We're ready to play game.
I'm so excited for that.
I'm very excited.
Not only, I'm a political junkie.
I like this stuff.
I grew up in a family talking politics my whole life.
And one of the things that I get excited about this time of year is, to me, win or lose, whether,
quote unquote, my person wins or not, I get excited about democracy.
I get excited about that the whole country kind of getting involved in this.
And the thing that makes me even more excited is when we look at the last presidential election
and seeing record number of voters and hoping that that trend continues, we need more voters
than they got on American Idol.
Okay, like I don't think that's asking a lot.
This is a little more important, everybody.
Very much so.
And it's just as important to be informed and be out there and understanding that.
And as important as it is to be informed, just as much to make sure that you are all signed up and ready to go,
keep in mind that through this whole conversation or right now, you can pull up my vote.
WI.gov and find out any of the information Trent and I are talking about and certainly making sure that you are registered
and ready to go so that when August 13th comes rolling around or November 6th, you are all set and ready to be.
Get out there.
You bet.
And is there anything better than, you know, there is no better time when you're working in the polls on election day.
Is there anything better than an 18 year old coming into register for the first time?
It still chokes me up talking about.
But there is nothing better than that.
It's just, oh yeah, cool.
I have a new clerk actually in the City of Nukusa, very young out of college who is interested in this public service.
And she is actually, Kelly Dine is actually doing a fabulous job in the City of Nukusa.
It's seeing those younger generations wanting to do this type of work, doing this public service work because we don't have enough of that.
You know, you look at our age of our poll workers and God bless them all.
But you know, seeing some of those 20 and 30 year olds working the polls, that's always good times.
And in Wisconsin does allow for high school poll workers having those high school students in there.
I always encourage my municipalities, hey, take a look at this.
16, 17 year olds can work the polls and should be.
Yeah.
So that they understand that when they get to be 18, there is a civic duty there.
Yes.
And that not only should you be voting, but you should be also volunteering your time like your daughter participating in that process.
So you have a, you know, that when you hear these things off in the background thinking, you know, you know, dog on good and well, it's not true.
Because you've been there, you've done it.
Hey, that's not the way it actually works.
Yeah.
So always encourage that.
Always encourage that.
If you are somebody who is questioning some of our election process or in the, in the, that realm or anything and that, I encourage you even more to be a part of this process.
Yes.
Get involved.
Get out there and be a poll worker, volunteer, get your kids involved in it.
If you are, you can, any dog can bark.
It takes a certain type of dog that can do tricks that can do actually work and do something.
Do you want to be a dog that's just barking or do you want to be informed to get out there and actually be a part of things?
Because anybody can complain.
But it takes somebody that is actually caring and really like really means what they're saying to get involved in this.
And once you are involved, you will see that this process is solid, strong.
These are not only people working like Trent said for months on this.
Oftentimes, these are volunteers doing this.
These are people taking time out of their own day to do this stuff.
And you don't do that for nothing.
They're doing it because not only do you care about this country, care about democracy, but you believe in this process.
I actually, I love hearing people that are doubters.
I like to see that.
I like to see them with their, let's see, my wife puts it AIS.
They're, they're back sides in the seats.
Yeah.
You know, I am the holes on, on, on the election day.
And we have that in Wood County.
I've seen it firsthand where we've had those doubters and, you know, I'm going to be a part of it.
I want to just make sure nothing.
Okay.
Great.
Wonderful.
Follow the rules.
These are the rules.
And, and then it's like, oh, yeah.
Well, by golly, that really can't happen.
Can it?
So, educating yourself, there's only so much that you as a radio host or me as a county clerk can provide to the people.
If you want to know, you have to learn on your own.
And taking the steps to get the correct information and being in the background and doing those things certainly helps.
With the fall primary being August 13th, the cutoff deadline is today at five o'clock to deadline to register to the municipal clerk's office.
Keep that in mind as well.
And your offices will be closing at five.
So that will be the cutoff time, right?
Cut, cutoff time is five PM at the municipal clerk's offices for those that hold normal office hours, but five o'clock.
And then Monday, nothing really happens on Monday.
That's really the no voting, no absentee voting happens that day, no in person.
That's our data.
Take a breath, get everything set up and then hit her hard on Tuesday.
And you can certainly register to vote at the polls on election day.
Make sure you have your proof of residency with you.
And if you have questions on that, please call my office and we can help you through that.
We'll get you that information before we wrap up.
I did want to touch on one other thing before we get done here.
And we've talked about this a little bit loosely.
Are we still accepting volunteers?
Are we still accepting poll workers for whether it's the August 13th primary or the November election?
Are you guys still looking for volunteers?
Always, always.
If the pandemic taught us everything, you know, some of our smaller townships said, well, hey, I've got my three election workers.
They've been here for 30 years or whatever.
We're good to go.
Well, if the pandemic taught us everything, anything having a deep back bench is certainly advisable.
Yes, we're always taking names.
Municipal clerks are always taking names.
And if you want to know who your municipal clerk is, again, my office will be happy to get you that information
and pass your name along to them.
So we're always looking for poll workers.
Anybody interested in being a part of that process?
If you are able to do it is what is the time commitment like Trent?
It varies.
You know, a lot of our municipalities have shifts that they work.
Some municipalities, I mean, it's from 6.30 in the morning until 8.30 at night.
So it really depends on the municipality.
And a lot of times they'll work around.
They'll work around.
Right.
Thank you.
That's kind of what I wanted to make sure people understood that you're not a different place as different things and different needs, of course.
But chances are wherever you're listening to this, your municipality will probably work with you on it.
We just need more and more good volunteers out there.
And it's encouraging to see more and more younger people getting involved with this process and caring.
I tell you, it used to, when we were young, it seemed like, well, you got paid attention to politics,
but you didn't get too involved.
You voted, but you didn't get that involved until maybe your late 20s, 30s or something like that.
This younger generation is not waiting.
They are 18 and out there and running.
You've got the youngest mayor ever in Miami down there.
You've got other places around the country where you're seeing kids getting involved and getting out there and voting.
And not only voting, but getting out there and getting others to vote and others informed.
That's what we like to see.
I was an oddball in my generation.
I was a town chairman for 29 years and I was elected when I was 21 and served for 29 years.
And when I left, I was still the youngest town chairman in Wood County.
But you're not seeing that anymore.
You're seeing this younger generation, like you said, run for these offices.
And it's not just local offices, even though I think you should start with a local office.
You see these people running for state legislature and Congress and those types of things.
You're where there's age limits, you have to be mindful of.
But seeing these young people take charge and they got good ideas.
And maybe some of their ideas aren't good, but that's what democracy is all about.
You don't win them all.
And you live to fight another day.
And maybe we didn't make the argument right.
That's all to be determined.
That's something that gets lost in the shuffle politically.
That people, especially in this day and age, are doing way too much.
These are not your sports teams.
These are not supposed to be represented that way.
They're not supposed to be looked at that way.
Politics is not sports.
Sometimes you lose and you lick your wounds and you get back to the next election.
The idea that the way these parties are like, win at all costs or all that kind of thing.
That's not how politics is supposed to work.
That's not how democracy works.
And keep that in mind and get informed and keep in all of this conversation
when you're out there in those polls and be good to those poll workers out there.
Be good to your municipal clerks.
Treat them right.
They will treat you right.
They are good at what they do.
Trent, if people do have follow-up questions, want to know more about someone
what we talked about, how can they reach you?
Please give me a call in the office at 715-421-8460.
And we'll be there every day until 430 today and tomorrow.
And Monday and Tuesday will be there a long day.
It will be there all day until the polls close at night and we get the returns in.
And take a look at our website, woodcountywi.gov.
And the election results will be there.
I anticipate we'll probably have most of our election results up on that website
probably be completed close to 9 o'clock.
Yeah.
I should everything up and should be able to see who's moving forward and who's not.
Good to know.
Again, you can find out more information as well at myvote.wi.gov.
Myvote.wi.gov.
Trent, we appreciate you.
Appreciate all of your team and the work that they put into this community
and keep in democracy alive and well.
Thank you so much for the time.
I imagine we'll talk before November, probably.
Let's make a date, you bet.
And one of these days, I want to get together and talk a little bit about
how things have changed in the years you've been doing this.
We need more time for that though.
So we'll do that.
One of these shows coming up.
Thank you for the time, Trent.
I bet. Thank you.
We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up for you right here at 975 FM 1320 AM
WFHR locally grown radio.
