Effects of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
In Wisconsin, a swing state with a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature, an April 7 election for a state Supreme Court seat, the federal presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, and several other judicial and local elections went ahead as scheduled.
Due to the pandemic, at least fifteen other U.S. states cancelled or postponed scheduled elections or primaries at the time of Wisconsin's election. [2] With Wisconsin grappling with their own pandemic, state Democratic lawmakers made several attempts to postpone their election, but were prevented by other Republican legislators. Governor Tony Evers called the Wisconsin legislature into an April 4 special session, but the Republican-controlled Assembly and Senate graveled their sessions in and out within seventeen seconds. [3] In a joint statement afterwards, Wisconsin's state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald criticized Evers for attempting to postpone the election, for not calling a special session earlier, and for reversing his previous position on keeping the election date intact. [4]
Early in April, Evers publicly stated that he did not believe that he could postpone the election on his own. Nevertheless, after the legislature's inaction, the governor attempted to move the election by an executive order issued on April 6. [5] Evers' effort was, however, blocked by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On the same day, a separate effort to extend the deadline for mailing absentee ballots was blocked by the Supreme Court of the United States. The only major concession achieved was that absentee ballots postmarked by April 7 at 8 p.m. would be accepted until April 13. [6] However, local media outlets reported that many voters had not received their requested absentee ballots by election day or, due to social distancing, were unable to satisfy a legal requirement that they obtain a witness's signature. [7] [8] Three tubs of ballots from Oshkosh and Appleton were found undelivered the next day, requiring voters who had requested a ballot to come in contact with others at a polling station or forfeit their vote. [9]
The decision by Republican lawmakers to not alter the election in the face of the pandemic, such as to a mail-only vote, was sharply criticized by the editorial board of the local Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel , which had previously endorsed the Republican former governor Scott Walker. [10] [11] They called the election "the most undemocratic in the state's history," adding that it put "at risk everything we've gained from the past three weeks of staying home and keeping our distance." [10] In a sub-headline, The New York Times stated that the election was "almost certain to be tarred as illegitimate." The newspaper contextualized the inability of Wisconsin's lawmakers to come to an agreement on altering the election as another chapter in the contentious recent political history of the state, which included "a decade of bitter partisan wrangling that saw [state Republicans] clinically attack and defang the state's Democratic institutions, starting with organized labor and continuing with voting laws making it far harder for poor and black residents of urban areas to vote." [12] Republicans believed that holding the election on April 7, when Democratic-leaning urban areas were hard-hit by the pandemic, would help secure them political advantages like a continued 5–2 conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court (through the elected seat of Daniel Kelly). [11] [13]
When the election went ahead on April 7, access to easy in-person voting heavily depended on where voters were located. In smaller or more rural communities, which tended to be whiter and vote Republican, few issues were reported. [13] [14] In more urbanized areas, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure and consolidation of many polling places around the state despite the use of 2,400 National Guard members to combat a severe shortage in poll workers. [15] [16] The effects were felt most heavily in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's most populous city with the largest minority population and the center of the state's ongoing pandemic. [13] The city's government was only able to open 5 of 180 polling stations after being short by nearly 1,000 poll workers. [16] As a result, lengthy lines were reported, with some voters waiting for up to 2.5 hours and through rain showers. [15] [17] The lines disproportionately affected Milwaukee's large Hispanic and African-American population; the latter had already been disproportionately afflicted with the COVID-19 pandemic, forming nearly half of Wisconsin's documented cases and over half its deaths at the time the vote was conducted. [12] [14] However, by the time the election concluded, Milwaukee Election Commissioner Neil Albrecht stated that despite some of the problems, the in-person voting ran smoothly. [18]
Similar problems with poll station closures and long lines were reported in Waukesha, where only one polling station was opened for a city of 70,000, and Green Bay, where only 17 poll workers out of 270 were able to work. [12] Other cities were able to keep lines much shorter, including the state capital of Madison, which opened about two-thirds of its usual polling locations, and Appleton, which opened all of its usual 15. [15] [19]
Voters across the state were advised to maintain social distancing, wear face masks, and bring their own pens. [20] Vos, the state Assembly Speaker, served as an election inspector for in-person voting on April 7. While wearing medical-like personal protective equipment of gloves, a mask, and full gown, he told reporters that it was "incredibly safe to go out" and vote, adding that voters faced "minimal exposure." [13] [21]
