'Everybody’s duty to vote': Spring election to decide who will become the next mayor of Franklin
CBS 58 FRANKLIN, Wis. (CBS 58) — Tuesday’s spring election will decide who is becoming the City of Franklin’s next mayor.
It’s a race that some say has become contentious after challenger Basil Ryan filed a civil defamation lawsuit last week against incumbent John Nelson.
The lawsuit accuses the current mayor of distributing campaign mailers falsely claiming Ryan was endorsed by a convicted criminal.
Former Franklin mayor Steve Olson is also hoping to get re-elected but missed the official deadline to appear on the ballot and instead is asking voters to write in his name.
On Tuesday, voters outside Franklin’s City Hall expressed how important it was to them to come and make their voices heard.
“I feel like it’s everybody’s duty to vote,” said Sheri Dague. “If you don’t vote, don’t speak about anything.”
Tom Anglim said he wants to see change.
“I hope some of these people I vote for, I hope they do something for me,” Anglim said. “Come out and vote because that’s the only way you’re going to get some changes in this country.”
Thomas Polewczynski said even though this isn’t a presidential race, the ballot is still important.
“How do you ever expect to get things done around this city without the important people in office to do it for you? We need our representatives,” Polewczynski said.
And former alderperson Doug Schmidt said he’s very invested in the outcome.
“Well, I never miss an election, especially with the way times are right now. With the way everything’s going on locally and nationally, I think it’s important that everyone participates in our democracy,” Schmidt said. “We always have interesting mayoral races here, so it’ll be interesting to see how these election race results turn out this year.”
The polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday night.
