The election is Tuesday. Are you ready?

Wisconsin's 2022 midterm election is finally arriving on Tuesday.

While nearly 813,000 absentee ballots have been requested in the state, of which more than 715,000 had been returned as of Monday, many more voters will cast ballots on Tuesday.

We know. If you’re like most voters, you made up your mind long ago about who you were voting for in Wisconsin’s major political races.

But if you’re among that most rare of species — the undecided voter, still wondering where the candidates stand on the issues — we’re here to help.

The day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Wisconsin Democrats convened in La Crosse for their state convention to offer a unified message that reproductive health would be on the ballot come November.

In the months that followed, abortion policy has remained front and center in many statewide campaigns, including for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term in office against GOP challenger Tim Michels, and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is vying to oust Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Speaking at a campaign event Thursday in Middleton, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels repeated what has become a standard part of his stump speech.

Since mid-September, residents in Poynette have been unable to drop their utility bills or other documents into the village hall’s outdoor drop box, which is closed until after the election since the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled such unattended boxes could not be used to receive absentee ballots.

Closing the drop box has prompted complaints from some village residents. But it’s only one of several adjustments residents in this village of about 2,500 people have had to make because of recent election-related court rulings.

A Dane County judge on Wednesday rejected a request to let local election clerks accept absentee ballots with incomplete or missing witness address information.

In issuing her order, Circuit Court Judge Nia Trammell said changing the state’s absentee ballot certification rules this close to the Nov. 8 election would almost certainly create more confusion for voters.

GOP prospects of securing supermajorities in the Wisconsin Legislature, which already strongly favors Republicans thanks in large part to legislative maps drawn to protect their majority, has become a recurring trend in state elections.

While national issues like inflation, combined with local concerns over crime and education, suggest a favorable Nov. 8 election for Republicans, the party would need a banner year if it hopes to gain veto-proof majorities in both the state Senate and Assembly.

As the co-owner of Michels Corp., Republican Tim Michels has made his successful business — which has grown from a few hundred employees to more than 8,000 — a primary talking point in his campaign for governor.

If he succeeds in unseating Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Nov. 8, Michels has pledged to divest from the Brownsville-based construction company that’s secured millions in state contracts over the last decade to avoid any conflicts of interest, as state law requires the governor to sign the state’s largest road contracts.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels on Tuesday appeared to shift his stance on Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, telling a crowd in Milwaukee he “will never arrest a doctor,” though his campaign later said that decision is up to district attorneys.

Speaking with the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, Michels, the co-owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp., was asked what abortion policies he would support if elected governor. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year overturned its landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, leaving Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban — which prohibits doctors from providing abortions unless the procedure would be necessary to protect the mother’s life and contains no exemptions for rape and incest — on the books.

In their first and only debate leading up to a hotly contested Nov. 8 election that could drastically impact Wisconsin policies for the next four years, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican business executive Tim Michels traded barbs over issues such as crime, education and state spending.

While the debate, hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Associated, lacked some of the fireworks of Thursday’s matchup between Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Michels did go after Evers over issues like parole and education, accusing the Democratic governor of providing “weak leadership.” Both candidates repeatedly referred to the other as “too radical.”

With the Nov. 8 election less than a month away, Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday offered little interest in proposals by some Republicans, including his GOP challenger Tim Michels, to keep Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban in place while adding exceptions for rape and incest.

While fielding questions at a Rotary Club of Milwaukee event co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and WisPolitics.com, the Democratic governor offered a stark contrast to Michels, co-owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp.

Despite repeated and ongoing efforts by some people, including former President Donald Trump, to sow doubt about Wisconsin elections, the state’s election process remains safe and secure thanks in large part to the many checks and balances in place, elections officials say.

The time-consuming process of preparing and conducting an election at multiple polling sites in each of Wisconsin’s more than 1,800 municipalities is no easy task and certainly not one taken lightly, said Dane County Clerk Scott McDonnell.

Facing heavy GOP criticism over the parole of state inmates convicted of violent crimes, Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday defended Wisconsin’s parole system, though he added he’s open to giving the victims of those crimes “a voice at the table.”

Evers is in a tight gubernatorial race with Republican business owner Tim Michels, who has taken aim at the Democratic governor as being soft on crime and sent a letter to Evers last month demanding he suspend all prison releases — a move that is outside the governor’s power.

BARABOO — GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels told supporters in a packed tavern here Tuesday he is open to considering a flat income tax if elected this fall.

Michels, who faces Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Nov. 8, attended the event at the Square Tavern to accept an endorsement from the powerful Tavern League of Wisconsin. Michels, the co-owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp., said “inflation is running out of control” and vowed to implement “massive tax reform” by lowering the income tax and eliminating the personal property tax on businesses.

To the Democrats at the top of the ticket this November, the answer is simple: Win or lose, Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes say, they will accept the results.

But for their Republican opponents — Tim Michels and Ron Johnson — the question is more fraught, with neither willing to say unconditionally whether he would agree to the outcome once the results are certified.

Records compiled as part of Michael Gableman’s now-closed review of the 2020 election will soon be posted online “for all to see,” an attorney representing the office once headed by the former state Supreme Court justice told a Dane County judge Tuesday.

Attorney James Bopp, who is representing the Office of Special Counsel in an open records lawsuit related to the GOP-ordered probe, told Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost that all records — including emails and text messages — and assets once handled by the office have been handed over to the state Assembly.

Amid a swirl of legal challenges, legislative battles and misinformation, voters can be forgiven for not knowing exactly what to expect on Election Day.

To help address that, the Wisconsin Elections Commission has launched a series of educational videos that aim to create better awareness of the state’s electoral process and build more trust in the safety and security of voting in Wisconsin.

Marking a shift from previous comments he’s made on Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels now says he would sign into law a bill allowing exceptions for rape and incest — provisions not currently offered under the state’s more than 170-year-old law.

Michels’ comments were quick to draw criticism from incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who will face the millionaire co-owner of Brownsville-based construction company Michels Corp. in the Nov. 8 election. The issue of reproductive rights has become a rallying cry among Democrats leading up to the election following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade earlier this summer.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies seized on the drawn-out vote processing and counting in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election to fuel his false claims that fraud cost him victory in the battleground state — and election officials worry that a replay could be on the horizon in November’s crucial Senate and governor’s races.

And it’s not just Pennsylvania. Wisconsin and Michigan are other crucial swing states that allow no-excuse mail-in ballots but give local election offices no time before Election Day to process them.

Voters in Dane County will have the chance to give their views on a trio of advisory ballot referendums on marijuana and abortion this Election Day.

The referendums will ask voters if they support legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for people 21 and older and whether convictions for possession of small amounts of pot should be expunged.

Republican Attorney General candidate Eric Toney has said he would enforce Wisconsin’s abortion ban because it is the law but he’s downplayed some comments on what that would look like despite ongoing confusion for the medical community about the state’s conflicting abortion statutes.

Toney, the Fond du Lac County district attorney, said the state Department of Justice would enforce the state’s 1849 ban under his leadership, putting him in conflict with district attorneys in Dane and Milwaukee counties, who have indicated they wouldn’t enforce it.

Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and his Republican challenger, Eric Toney, lobbed repeated attacks at each other over public safety, abortion and elections Thursday night during the last of this election cycle’s debates for statewide races.

Kaul tried to downplay Toney’s attacks on his record as either falsehoods or a reflection of the Fond du Lac County district attorney’s misunderstanding of the state Department of Justice.

State attorney general candidate Eric Toney has charged another person with election fraud in Fond du Lac County, the eighth to face prosecution from the Republican district attorney who’s played up his election security credentials in the race.

Toney’s office charged 74-year-old Edward A. Malnar, of the city of Fond du Lac, with felony double voting for voting in both Wisconsin and Michigan during the 2020 election. Malnar faces an additional misdemeanor charge of obstructing a police officer.

Candidates walk a political tightrope the closer they get to an election: While seeking to appeal to centrists or independent voters, they still need to hold onto — and motivate — the loyal partisans who make up their base of support.

But in the competitive race for the U.S. Senate, some organizers worry Democratic leaders and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes are not doing enough to turn out liberal voters in the race against Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, especially regarding the economy, which polls consistently show are among voters’ top concerns.

Since the August primary, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has released a steady stream of television ads attacking Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

In one, released in mid-August, Johnson said Barnes wanted to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office and join a progressive group in Congress known as "The Squad." In early September, another Johnson ad called the lieutenant governor a "radical leftist" who wants to defund the police. Several more ads seek to draw voters away from Barnes by suggesting the Democrat is a threat to public safety.

To hear the candidates tell it, a vote for either Republican Sen. Ron Johnson or Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race could spell disaster if the wrong person wins.

Electing Johnson, one side says, can save the country from financial ruin, protect the border from an existential threat and reduce crime.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson challenged Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes over his public safety stance Friday, while Barnes went after the Oshkosh Republican on abortion and Social Security.

Barnes defended his position to end cash bail and instead base defendants’ potential release on their risk to others, saying people should not be able to buy their way out of prison.

Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature took mere seconds Tuesday to reject Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ call to let voters decide whether to repeal the state’s 1849 abortion ban, even as Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson voiced support for letting the people decide the issue.

The move by Evers is the latest by Democrats in the battleground state to turn the Nov. 8 election into a referendum on abortion. But Evers’ opponent Tim Michels, Johnson and other Republicans are focusing instead on crime and public safety in arguing that Democrats have failed to keep the state safe.

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett has put his November election opponent, Det. Anthony Hamilton, on paid leave days after Hamilton filed a federal lawsuit against Barrett and the Sheriff’s Office.

Hamilton, who said he was put on leave for “disseminating ‘confidential information,’” called the decision an “unprecedented move of retaliation” on the part of the sheriff.

Republican Dane County sheriff’s candidate and detective Anthony Hamilton has sued the Sheriff’s Office in federal court alleging that officials conspired to remove him from the SWAT team for raising concerns about a search at a hotel in March 2021 he considered illegal.

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett was photographed at an event alongside a registered child sex offender while the man was actively wanted by authorities, Barrett’s Republican challenger, Anthony Hamilton, revealed Wednesday.

In the photos posted to Facebook on June 9, Barrett appears at a backyard event with John F. Brown, 56, who was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 in 2009.

Social distancing is taking on a new meaning in Wisconsin’s highest-profile political races, where most of the candidates running have put space between themselves and their parties’ most influential leaders.

While the endorsement of former President Donald Trump was a much-coveted prize for Republicans in this month’s primary, in which turning out the base is key to victory, GOP candidates appear to recognize that the brand is toxic with Democrats and many independent voters. The same goes for Democratic candidates who are wary of being too closely aligned with President Joe Biden, whose popularity is near an all-time low.

Attorney general Republican nominee Eric Toney and Democratic incumbent Josh Kaul have pivoted to the general election by claiming the other is not able to handle the office’s public safety responsibilities, a preview of the attacks to come in the race over the next three months.

Toney, Fond du Lac County’s district attorney, who beat two opponents in a close Republican primary Tuesday night, said during an acceptance speech that Kaul had “turned his back on law enforcement.”