Voters Wait In Long Lines, Wear Masks To Cast Ballots In Wisconsin Primary During Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Order

Topline: As voters head to the polls on Tuesday in Wisconsin, the only state thus far to hold a primary election amid a statewide stay-at-home order, they’re being met with long lines and a “surreal” atmosphere, as the the state struggles to ensure all voters can vote safely during the coronavirus outbreak. 

• Until late Monday afternoon, hours before the polls were scheduled to open, it was unclear whether Wisconsin’s primary would happen — the state’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, attempted to push back the date of the primary to June but was blocked by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 
• The debate about whether the state could safely and practically hold an election during a pandemic pitted Republican state lawmakers, who have tried to tamp down fears about voter health safety, against state Democratic legislators, including the Democratic governor, who all have tried, unsuccessfully, to reschedule the date of the election and further extend the absentee ballot voting deadline; Democrats feared holding the scheduled primary in person would depress party turnout in cities, such as Milwaukee with its large African American population, where the outbreak has hit hardest.
• Now, instead, voters are heading to the polls wearing masks and standing in lines as long as two hours as the state has closed a significant number of its polling stations; Milwaukee, for instance, has only five polling places open even though the city usually has 180. 
• Experts worry fewer ballots will be cast because of the last-minute confusion surrounding the election, decreased in-person turnout due to voter concerns about the spread of the virus at packed polling centers, and a dysfunctional absentee ballot system.
• Some Wisconsin voters have reported never receiving their absentee ballot, and thousands haven’t yet submitted theirs; as of this morning, more than 9,000 voters had not gotten their absentee ballot and just 67% had sent their ballots in to be recorded, according to Wisconsin election officials. 
• Adding to the confusion and partisan dispute, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, in what was the first ruling by the court in a case involving matters having to do with the coronavirus pandemic, that Wisconsin could not extend its absentee ballot deadline after a federal judge in Madison had previously ordered an extension.

Key background: The Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin Governor Evers’ executive order after Republican state lawmakers filed a challenge against it Monday afternoon. The court ruled that Evers did not have the power as governor to reschedule the date of the election on his own. 

Further reading: The New York Times explains why Republicans care so much about this election. The “main event” of the Wisconsin election, Times’ Reid Epstein notes, is not the primary contest between Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, it’s “the State Supreme Court race between the conservative incumbent justice, Daniel Kelly, and a liberal challenger, Jill Karofsky.”

Crucial quote: “It’s a bit surreal,” Mike Davis, a city administrator for Middleton City, Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin State Journal. “Ideally, we would have done an election where we completely vote by absentee ballot but we’re doing as we’ve been told by the state legislature.”David added, though, that he thinks his district is in good shape because so many voters have submitted absentee ballots. 

 A Wisconsin Republican County Chair, Jim Miller, suggested the voting process was akin to people going to order takeout during the coronavirus outbreak, reports the New York Times
NYT
: “If you can go out and get fast food, you can go vote curbside. It’s the same procedure.”

Chief critic: Liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg penned a scathing dissent in the court’s ruling against extending the absentee ballot deadline.

“Because gathering at the polling place now poses dire health risks, an unprecedented number of Wisconsin voters — at the encouragement of public officials — have turned to voting absentee,” Ginsburg wrote. 

What we don’t know: Whether the partisan bickering surrounding holding elections during the pandemic will become the norm. 

“This may be a preview of how this will play out in November,” said Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who specializes in elections. “States without the capacity to manage a large-scale mail ballot election will be unable to meet voters’ lawful ballot requests. The U.S. Supreme Court will say tough luck.”

Surprising fact: Every state but Wisconsin that was scheduled to hold a primary in April either moved the date or changed to all mail-in voting. 

Big number: 2,440. As of 11:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Wisconsin had 2,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to a running tracker in the New York Times.