By The Associated Press
Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. March 14, 2024.
Editorial: Wisconsin cheese brings home an impressive haul
There was an old ad slogan that said “It ain’t easy being cheesy.” We don’t think the mascot who said it was from Wisconsin.
The annual World Championship Cheese Contest showed why Wisconsin remains the big cheese for far more than U.S. production. Cheesemakers in our state may have missed out on the top three, but no other state matched the awards total. In fact, Wisconsin outdid every country.
Wisconsin’s more than 1,200 licensed cheesemakers produce just a little less than half the cheese in the United States — more than 600 types in all. They brought home a total of 37 first place titles, 40 second place finishes and an additional 50 third place honors. It was quite the haul.
It’s easy to overlook Wisconsin’s cheese production sometimes simply because we’re so used to it. Taking a look at the numbers reminds you of just how impressive the industry is, though.
According to the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, producers here make about 3.5 billion pounds of cheese per year. That’s more than any other state, and enough that Wisconsin would rank fourth worldwide if it was an independent nation. The only countries that top Wisconsin would be the rest of the U.S., Germany and France.
More than half the nation’s specialty cheeses are from Wisconsin, including 53% of provolone and a whopping 78% of the feta made in this country. The amount coming out of the state is increasing, too. In 1991 Wisconsin made about 2 billion pounds of cheese. That figure held pretty steady until the turn of the century, but has accelerated significantly over the past 24 years.
Those figures underscore the sheer scale of an industry most of us are just used to being part of life in Wisconsin. This state punches well above its weight when it comes to dairy and cheese products. California, a state with more than five times Wisconsin’s population, comes in a comparatively distant second nationally.
Do we have some grand point here? Not really. Most readers may not know the specific statistics, but anyone who is particularly surprised at the facts of Wisconsin’s dominance in this industry probably just emerged from under a rock.
Sometimes, though, it’s worth celebrating what makes the places we live special, even when those details are blindingly obvious. That’s the case here. Wisconsin’s dairy history is so widely known and oft-proclaimed that we can become immune to it. But it’s a unique heritage, one no other state can hope to match.
The performance of Wisconsin’s cheesemakers is something to be proud of. They are, beyond being some of the best in the world, drivers of a very real economic engine. Wisconsin has diversified its economy over the decades but there’s still a very specific, cow-shaped gap that would open if it were to disappear.
This year’s top cheese was a mountain cheese from Switzerland. The competition calls it hornbacher, which is apparently nicknamed the “baked potato cheese.” The guy who makes it is pretty good, with multiple world cheese championships to his name.
It also runs something like $47 per pound. Yikes.
We’ll stick with Wisconsin’s cheeses. Given the aforementioned 600-plus varieties, there’s going to be something you like. Besides, that supports the state’s businesses and keeps money in Wisconsin communities.
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re getting hungry. We think there’s some cheese with our name on it.
Wisconsin State Journal. March 17, 2024.
Editorial: Wisconsin gets a 10 for secure elections — just ask your local municipal clerk
Anybody worried about the security of Wisconsin’s elections should talk to their local municipal clerk.
That goes for ordinary citizens as well as state and federal lawmakers — especially those spreading lies about fraud.
Local clerks, some of whom have run polling places for decades, say they’re happy to walk anyone through all of the precautions and procedures they painstakingly implement to ensure our elections are fair and transparent.
In fact, two of Wisconsin’s finest and most respected municipal clerks — Cindi Gamb and Elena Hilby, president and vice president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association — give Wisconsin’s elections a “10” for security.
Gamb has been the deputy clerk-treasurer for the conservative-leaning village of Kohler for 29 years. Hilby has served as clerk of the liberal-leaning suburb of Sun Prairie since 2017 and previously for more moderate Milton.
When asked to rank Wisconsin’s elections on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being as secure as possible, neither hesitated.
“I would say they’re 10s,” Hilby said.
“I agree,” Gamb said.
“As a clerk, as somebody who is in here,” Hilby continued, “I cannot figure out a way I would be able to even fake one ballot return.”
“Everything is done, and it’s checked and rechecked,” Gamb added. “There is no way anybody could do something.”
Like their colleagues, Gamb and Hilby have been working for weeks to prepare for the April 2 election. Voting equipment is stored at all times in a locked closet with security seals when not being used, Gamb said. The equipment is carefully tested before elections. After every test, the equipment is sealed again.
Then on Election Day, those seals are checked. If anything has to be opened, it must be documented.
Poll workers are trained to process ballots under the direction of a chief election inspector. Sadly, many poll workers these days have to receive training on how to handle threats and unruly people. That kind of intimidation never occurred until recent years, Gamb and Hilby said.
Voters must show a photo ID at the polls, which is checked against a poll book, and everyone must sign their name. Increasingly, polling places scan IDs electronically to speed and improve the process. The machines quickly confirm if a voter is in the right polling place and eligible.
Gamb stressed that voting machines are not connected to the internet, so they can’t be hacked.
After the polls close, the ballots are put in locked storage. Then they’re taken to the county clerk, where they are locked again.
So why are some people suspicious?
“Influential people are calling it into question,” Hilby said.
Neither she nor Gamb singled out Donald Trump. But we will. The former president continues to pretend he didn’t lose, ignoring the 60-plus court cases, multiple recounts, election audits and reviews that showed President Joe Biden won Wisconsin and the Electoral College count in 2020.
A contributing factor to suspicion about elections could be absentee ballots. Their use soared during the pandemic, when many voters didn’t want to risk catching COVID-19 at the polls.
Gamb and Hilby said the process of requesting and receiving absentee ballots works well. Most people who complain about it have received a request form for an absentee ballot in the mail — not from a clerk’s office, but from a third-party group. And sometimes those groups use outdated voter lists, adding to confusion.
Hilby said she wishes those private mailings would stop because they can look fishy. But they’re not a risk for fraud.
Allowing local clerks to process — but not count — absentee ballots the day before the election would help speed results to the public on Election Night, the clerks agreed. It also would make it possible for Milwaukee to avoid tallying tens of thousands of absentee ballots late into the night.
The Republican-run Assembly easily approved a bipartisan bill in November allowing clerks to begin processing absentee ballots the Monday before elections. Unfortunately, a handful of stubborn state senators, all Republicans, have blocked this commonsense improvement.
A big priority of municipal clerks across the state has been early voting, as long as it is voluntary for communities. Letting people vote early for convenience could improve turnout. It also would let voters fix any mistake — such as voting in more than one primary — if a voting machine rejects their ballot.
This spring, thank your local clerk and poll workers for their service on behalf of our democracy.
“I want elections to be fair, to be safe, to be secure,” Gamb said. “That’s why I keep doing what I’m doing. I just feel it’s very important for everyone to be able to vote.”
Amen.
