Student voter turnout surges in 2025 Wisconsin Spring Election, reflects statewide Democratic shift

The 2025 Wisconsin Spring Election had high student voter turnout, especially for a non-partisan and non-presidential race, according to Elections Research Center Director Barry Burden.

“Typically, student turnout will drop off substantially in a non-presidential election, especially a nonpartisan spring election, but that did not happen in the student wards around campus,” Burden said. “The turnout rates were closer to what they were in the presidential [election] than is true for other voters around the state.”

The total voter turnout for Madison wards 56-63 — an area including the University of Wisconsin campus — was 7,152 voters for the 2023 Spring Election, 11,367 voters in the 2024 General Election and 8,473 voters in the 2025 Spring Election.

Each of the campus-area wards saw an increase in voter turnout from the 2023 Spring Election, with the highest percentage increase of 52% in ward 56. The other wards ranged from a 4% to a 26% increase in voter turnout.



https://badgerherald.com/news/campus/2025/04/24/student-voter-turnout-surges-in-2025-wisconsin-spring-election-reflects-statewide-democratic-shift/