Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Wisconsin State Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection

via Committee Clerk Neville

Wisconsin State Capitol

2 East Main Street

Madison, WI 53703

 

RE: Top-five Primaries and Instant Runoff Voting, SB 528

 

Thank you for hearing Senate Bill 528, related to top-five primaries and instant runoff voting for the offices of U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative in Congress.

 

The undersigned are all U.S. military Veterans, and we have been directly affected by the dysfunction of Congress. Too often the cost of this dysfunction is measured in the lives of fellow service members or our own health and welfare. We don’t believe current Senators and Representatives are bad people. Rather, the current electoral process forces elected officials to placate party elites, fringe voters, and special interests to stay in office instead of being responsive to the majority of their constituents.

 

The solution is moving to top-five primaries and instant-runoff voting for U.S. Senators and Representatives from Wisconsin. Such a change will not necessarily result in different people being elected, but it will allow those elected to act in the best interest of their district, our state, and all it's citizens. It will also allow those running for Congress to be completely open and honest during their primary and general campaigns rather than striving to placate fringe voters or extreme but influential outside groups.

 

Though we are all Veterans, we have vastly different experiences, ideologies, interests, and priorities, yet we all recognize the lack of constituent accountability Congress faces due to our electoral process. Even those who want to properly serve their electorate are often hogtied by this same electoral process.

 

This bill, SB 528, will make Wisconsin Senators and Representatives more accountable to all their constituents while rewarding them for common sense problem solving. This bill will help restore veterans’ faith that Congress will actually pass laws and budgets that will be good for us as well as current and future service members. It will help ensure that when the US is involved in conflicts around the globe, it will be for reasons of national security and in the best interest of our country.

 

We strongly urge you to support passage of SB 528. The undersigned Wisconsin citizens and Veterans provide this letter of support for SB 528.

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Signed,