With dismal turnout, Hill wins Muni Court primary

Hill

Incumbent Valarie Hill on Tuesday took first place in a four-way Municipal Court primary that saw just 7.9 percent of registered city voters cast ballots.

She will face second-place finisher William Crowley, a disability rights lawyer, in the April  4 general election. 

Just 27,855 of the city's 352,765 registered voters cast ballots in the race, according to preliminary returns from the Milwaukee Election Commission.

Hill, a Municipal Court judge since 2004, garnered 13,084 votes. That is 46.7 percent of ballots cast for any candidate in the race, including write-ins, but represents votes from just 3.7 percent of registered voters. Hill's perceived acerbic attitude toward those who appear before her and the failure by the court's three judges to fully inform defendants of their rights are issues in the race.

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Crowley

Crowley, a lawyer with Disability Rights Wisconsin, won 5,356 votes, 19.2 percent of those cast in the race. He won support from just 1.5 percent of registered city voters.

Third-place finisher Brian J. Michel, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, received 4,880 votes,or 18% of the total. Just 1.4 percent of registered voters cast their ballots for him.

​The final candidate, Assistant City Attorney Kail Decker, got 4,342 votes, or 16 percent of the total in the race. Some 1.2 percent of city voters supported him.

Write-in candidates got 193 votes, or 0.69 percent of the total cast in the race.

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