MADISON, Wis. — Madison voters overwhelmingly told the city they wanted term limits for their alders in an advisory referendum on the future of the common council structure and voted against any other changes.

What You Need To Know

  • Madison held an advisory referendum to explore changes to the Common Council

  • 70% of voters told they city they want to see term limits for alders

  • Voters favored keeping things the same on the other three questions

  • Referendum is not binding and there is no set timeline on when changes to the Council would be made

The referendum asked four questions: 1) should the Common Council move from part time to full-time, 2) should the Common Council change the number of alders from 20, 3) should Common Council terms change from two years to four, and 4) should alders have term limits of 12 years — they currently have none.

Poll workers answer a voter question on the city's near east side.

 

With 99% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, more than 70% of voters supported term limits.

“I think there should be limits,” said Stephanie Chang, a Madison voter. “I mean the President, every other political office does have limits, so I think that should definitely be installed.”

As far as switching alder positions from full-time to part time — and giving the positions a raise in the process — 58% of voters said they wanted the position to remain part time.

“I was not in favor of a full time more irrationally paid council, I thought that would change the dynamics in the city a great deal,” said Carol Carstensen, a Madison voter.

More than 70% of voters said they think the Common Council size should remain the same, with about 16% saying they'd like to see the number of alders reduced, and 13% saying it should be increased.

The closest question of the four was about switching terms from two to four years. About 55% of voters voted against changing term lengths, while 44% voted to extend them.

“I did think it might be useful to expand the term from two years to four years,” Carsten said.

A voter casts his ballot on Madsion's east side.

Many Madison voters told Spectrum News that they were not sure on how to vote for many of the questions.

“I thought they were interesting, I kind of went back and several of them, because there were definitely pros and cons to a lot of them,” said Natalie Levine, a Madison voter.

The referendum is advisory, and the results not binding. Though the City plans to take the results into account as they decide on changes to the Common Council going forward. There is no set timeline on when changes will be instituted.