The Wisconsin Primary Had A New Hurdle: The Coronavirus Pandemic

Voters in Wisconsin cast their ballots for the presidential primary on Tuesday (April 7) — however not without having to navigate a prohibitive blend of hours-long lines, drastically reduced numbers of polling places, plus a necessary for masks and other protective gear to minimize the spread of the novel coronavirus. In short, this is what in-person voting looks like throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.


Election day almost didn't happen at all, until the very last minute: On Monday (April 6), the state's governor, Tony Evers, used the powers of executive sort to suspend in-person voting, nevertheless that call was later overruled by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Federal Supreme Court also shot down an effort to extend absentee ballot options for voters who might be rightfully fearful of showing up to the polls in the middle of a pandemic — right now, any mail-in ballots in the state must be postmarked by April 7 sort in attempt to be counted. (Democrats had petitioned to extend the deadline so that ballots would have to be acquired by April 13, nevertheless Republicans asked for the more stringent timeline.)


Plenty of officials voiced their dismay at the choice to carry on with the primary election as usual, especially given that photographs and videos of lines and personalized precautions showed a reality that was anything however. Home Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) mentioned he was "appalled that the U.S. And Wisconsin Supreme Courts resisted to permit any modification in the interest of public health and democracy alike," while Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor, Mandela Barnes, called the entire production a "shit show."


Even so, hundreds of Wisconsinites showed up to perform their civic duty, and so they did so while trying to preserve the CDC's suggested 6 to 10 feet apart from one another in the hours-long lines. Due to the state-mandated stay-at-home sort, several polling places couldn't open at all; per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Governor Evers called in the National Guard to employees some locations. Even so, there were 5 polling places open to the city of almost 600,000 people — typically, 180 polling places are obtainable to Milwaukee's residents.


The New York Times noted that there were fewer lines in other cities, which is alarming on a few levels. Almost two-thirds of the state's Black residents reside in Milwaukee county, and the median age for the Black community is relatively young: 28 to the state's average 38.


“Our kids are voting in Milwaukee and they’re certainly waiting longer than we did,” Bruce Campbell, a resident of nearby Brookfield, instructed them Times. “You can feel the blue county, red county dynamics. It’s challenging to watch.”


Per Vox, 1.2 million people in the state had requested absentee ballots this year, which is basically five times several because the state usually handles in primary elections, and roughly one-fifth of the total population.