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A $458 million tax incremental financing district the city of Port Washington approved in November 2025 for a massive data center will not be altered. However, future TIFs could allow voter input if a judge sides with voters instead of business and trade groups.

In an April 7 referendum, Port Washington voters approved giving residents a say in  approving tax incremental financing districts of more than $10 million. That only applies to future projects, not the $458 million TIF the city already approved for the data center for OpenAI and Oracle. 

What’s more, a judge reviewing a legal challenge from business and trade groups could strike down the referendum. 

The bottom line: Voters might be allowed to give input on approving TIFs, but the ordinance is facing legal challenge, is not set in stone and doesn’t affect the data center already under construction.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• City of Port Washington: Notice of referendum
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Port Washington passes TIF referendum proposed by data center skeptics
• Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce: MMAC, regional stakeholders file suit against Port Washington

Did Port Washington voters stop a $458 million data center project? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Betting on an election one is voting in is illegal in Wisconsin.

Politics betting has become popular on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Just this year, people have placed lucrative bets on the capture of the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and on the war with Iran, among other events. 

On Kalshi, people have placed bets worth tens of thousands of dollars on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election on April 7 and the governor’s primary election on Aug. 11.

Ann Jacobs, Wisconsin’s Elections Commission chair, noted on X that voters’ ballots can be disqualified and thrown out if they were found to have bet on the election. 

Wisconsin Statute 6.03(2) specifies that no one is allowed to vote in any election in which the person has placed “any bet or wager depending upon the result of the election.” The idea behind the law has existed since 1849.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Kalshi: Wisconsin bets
• Wisconsin state statute: 6.03

Is it illegal for Wisconsin voters to bet on election results? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.