Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., spoke at a rally on the Capitol steps Tuesday, urging supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to vote early.
After the rally, Kerry led the crowd in a march to the Dane County Clerk's office to cast early absentee votes in person.
Kerry said the real way to create change is for citizens to turn their frustrations about what is going on into votes.
More often than not, the real change comes from people across this country who hold Washington accountable,"" Kerry said.
He encouraged spectators to vote early in order to avoid long lines on Election Day, to clear up any confusion that could arise over voter registration information and to have the opportunity to work on getting everyone else to vote.
Kerry criticized Republican presidential candidate John McCain for his policies on healthcare and the Iraq War, saying McCain does not understand going into Iraq was a mistake.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., spoke before Kerry and said while the outcome for Obama and other Democratic candidates looks promising in Wisconsin, high voter participation is still very important.
""In the past two presidential elections, our state was decided by less than 1 percent of the vote. Everyone has the opportunity to play a decisive role in this election,"" Baldwin said.
Several members of UW-Madison College Republicans attended the rally, holding campaign signs for McCain and chanting ""John McCain"" in the midst of the other spectators' cheers for Obama.
Sara Mikolajczak, chair of the College Republicans, said the group just wanted to make their presence known at the event.
""We want everyone to know that just because we live in Madison, we're not voting for Barack Obama,"" Mikolajczak said, adding she believes McCain's policies are ""a lot better than anything Sen. Obama has to offer.""
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, said he was happy the College Republicans showed up to voice their opinion because taking part in democracy is one of the best parts of this country. ""But I think as you can see the majority of this crowd is excited for change, and really excited to see Barack Obama as the next president of the United States,"" Judge added.
UW-Madison sophomore Ben Meyer said the student participation on campus is encouraging.
""This is my first time being on campus for a presidential election, and from what I've seen in the primary, I was really encouraged to see how many students got out to vote,"" Meyer said.
