MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU-WDLB) — A Marshfield woman is launching a write-in campaign for state Assembly.
Kathleen Rulka is asking voters in the 69th Assembly District to write her in on November sixth. “Part of my motivation is because people kept telling me that they were writing me into the ballot. And because they were writing me into the ballot I realized that I needed to register so that those votes could be counted. And the big hurrah is that people are really happy that the incumbent is not running unopposed. Because they really feel that for the democratic process to be upheld that we need to provide choices for people. So that they can choose one candidate or the other.”
Rulka had earlier announced her intentions to run for the Assembly early this year but withdrew from the race to assist her husband Brian Ewert’s campaign in the 7th Congressional District.
WDLB in Marshfield reports Rulka is now officially registered with the Wisconsin Elections Commission as a write-in candidate. “What this does is that it also gives people an option to write in a name that they know is going to be counted. Because what we’ve heard is that when someone is unopposed and they do not want to vote for that person, they leave it blank. And it feels bad. People feel disillusioned, they feel disenfranchised. They wish they had a choice. And so what this does, is it provides a choice.”
Rulka says she is using social media and her website to get the message out that she is launching the write-in candidacy. She’s also putting up yard signs, and going door-to-door. She says that information will be helpful to voters so they spell her name correctly on the ballot November sixth.
“Well, it should be spelled right. And the election commission said, because one person said, ‘Oh shoot I put an H, I put R-U-H-L-K-A.’ And they actually look at these written in votes very conscientiously because if they see that the voters had an intention of actually spelling the name of the person who’s the write-in, then they take that into consideration. So you can actually take a piece of paper into the polls with you with my name on it so you can spell it correctly.”
Rulka’s website is kathleenforassembly.com. The only name voters in the 69th Assembly District will see on the ballot on election day is that of Republican incumbent Bob Kulp of Stratford.
