UWM's Mordecai Lee discusses Wisconsin recall election

MILWAUKEE -- On "Recall Election Day" in Wisconsin on Tuesday, June 5th, UW-Milwaukee Professor of Governmental Affairs Mordecai Lee shared his election enthusiasm with FOX6 News as voters took to the polls in Wisconsin's first-ever recall vote.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience! I'm really having trouble concentrating because this is such an exciting moment," Lee said.

Lee said he would continue to monitor the returns throughout the night and the former state legislator said he would focus first on what was predicted to be exceptional voter turnout.

"The more casual the voter, the more likely they are to be below average in education, below average in income, below average in age -- which means Democrats, so high turn-out skews Democratic and low turn-out skews Republican," Lee said.

Lee said this is just a generality and there are exceptions, such as during Wisconsin's gubernatorial general election in 2010.

Lee said it's not just how many people vote in this recall election but also where people are voting that helps get some indication of which candidate might fare best.

"We have to look not just at total turn-out, state-wide, but we have to look at, on a county-by-county basis, is this county performing above-average, or below-average? Is this county usually Republican, or usually Democratic?" Lee said.

Regardless of the results, Lee said on Tuesday, history was made in Wisconsin.

"We might be telling our grand-children about that day, in Wisconsin, on that "Recall Day" -- back in 2012. That's how historic this is," Lee said.

Voters can call the Wisconsin Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report problems, ask attorneys questions or get help to protect their right to vote.

CLICK HERE for more information on voting and the recall election via the GAB’s website.

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