Wisconsin primary: Lieutenant Governor candidate forced to prove he is alive after TV report
A candidate for Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor was left off three newspapers’ election notices just one day before the state primary and even had to prove he was alive to a television station.
Mandela Barnes, a Democrat, is a former state assembly member. Yet it seems that was not enough
A CBS News station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, aired a report about a fatal motorcycle accident and included Mr Barnes’ picture instead of the victim.
His name was not included in the report either, which may have led potential voters to believe he was deceased.
Mr Barnes - who has been campaigning all day - told The Independent he found out about the newspapers’ omission when a friend texted him. He later tweeted: “I get it, being a 31 year old statewide candidate of colour may be rare, but apparently I'm invisible in at least 3 different election notices.”
I get it, being a 31 year old statewide candidate of color may be rare, but apparently I'm invisble in at least 3 different election notices. https://t.co/L3cwaU0ohy
— Mandela Barnes is Running for Lieutenant Governor (@TheOtherMandela) August 13, 2018
After the election notice madness, @CBS58 just tried to just kill me off completely 😳 pic.twitter.com/2x0MAQHJ6R
— Mandela Barnes is Running for Lieutenant Governor (@TheOtherMandela) August 14, 2018
The newspapers in question are Kenosha News, The Lakeland Times of Minocqua, Wisconsin, and Northwoods River News covering Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
The latter two are newspapers in Oneida county and the Kenosha News is located in southeastern Kenosha County.
When Mr Barnes campaign manager called the three newspapers to find out how the candidate could have been left out of the election notices, all three blamed errors with their respective county clerk offices.
Mr Barnes said the campaign then contacted the two county clerk officers, who both confirmed he is on ballots and issued election notices.
“How could this happen?” Mr Barnes wondered.
He has not received any other reply from the newspapers however Kenosha News said it would be printing a correction today, the day of the primary.
“We have calls going out,” Mr Barnes said in the hours after the papers’ omissions, and noted he “sincerely hopes” it has nothing to do with his race or is a matter of curtailing the democratic process in the state’s primary.
Mr Barnes is going up against fellow Democrat Kurt Kober in the primary election.
Mr Kober is what Mr Barnes called a “self-funder,” while Mr Barnes has taken a pledge not to accept any corporate or fossil fuel interest campaign donations.
Mr Barnes claimed his opponent “adopted” parts of his platform when the former state assembly member began rising in the polls.
Like many in the progressive wave of Democrats running for office this year - including New York Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kerri Harris in Delaware, Rashida Tlaib and Abdul al Sayed in Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts - Mr Barnes is running on a platform of debt-free university places, free two-year colleges, a better and more inclusive healthcare system, investment in renewable energy and a higher minimum wage requirement in his state.
Mr Barnes said his opponent is “still learning” about issues important to voters on healthcare and public education - parts of his platform Mr Kober took as his own positions.
His opponents’ platform more closely matches those of the so-called establishment Democrats running around the country.
All the papers have now printed corrections to the election notices and Mr Barnes said he hopes volunteers for his campaign in those areas can undo any potential last-minute damage.
Polls close at 9pm local time and other races to watch include the gubernatorial primaries as Democrats try to unseat incumbent Republican Scott Walker.
