The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board predicts 50 percent of eligible Wisconsin voters will vote in the Nov. 2 midterm elections.
There is much interest in this election because of the governor's race and a close U.S. senate race, Kevin Kennedy, director of the GAB, said in a statement. He said there are also significant local referenda up for vote throughout Wisconsin.
Stephen Duerst, chairman of UW-Madison College Republicans, said students are interested in this election and are likely to vote, but perhaps not as much as 50 percent.
""I think that certainly students are [aware of] the message that the media has been sending that this going to be a monumental election just in terms of the switch and the sweep that is going to occur,"" he said.
Evan Giesemann, chairman of UW-Madison College Democrats, said many candidates have come to campus to speak to students.
""I think President Obama fired up a lot of students and got them interested in this election when he was here at the end of September,"" Giesemann said. ""I've seen a lot of student excitement about the election on campus campus since then.""
Duerst said both Republican and Democrat students have worked hard on campaigns and have a ""vested interest"" in the election.
Within recent years, the highest voter turnout in an off-year general election was 50.9 percent in 2006, when a Wisconsin referendum on same-sex marriage was on the ballot, according to the GAB.
