Local News

In the Wisconsin recall election, people on both sides have found creative ways to communicate their views. Here is a story of one way that politics becomes social — using old-school technology.

The Overpass Light Brigade, a collection of anti-Scott Walker protestors in Wisconsin, display signs with their political positions on a freeway overpass May 26, 2012, in Milwaukee. (Photo by Lucas Anderson/UW Election Eye)

MILWAUKEE – Forty people stood on the Interstate 43 pedestrian overpass in the northern part of this city, clutching three-foot tall, wooden signs dotted with Christmas light lettering. In the receding daylight, all that could be seen was their message. That was the goal.

“Vote Barrett June 5″ spelled out the lighted letters. And then in smaller letters a few feet away: “Recall.”

Self-dubbed the Overpass Light Brigade, these protestors, co-founded by Milwaukee couple Lane Hall and Lisa Moline, were registering their positions for the state’s upcoming vote on whether to recall Governor Scott Walker and replace him with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Among the crew that night of May 26 were Greg Davis and his 14-year-old son Ben. Ben held a “B” while his father held an “R.”

“We’re just regular folks,” Davis said. “Not the people you’d see protesting at anything and everything.”

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