Wisconsin’s Pandemic Primary Will Put Voters’ Lives in Danger
Despite the clear public health risk to voters, and despite the sensible delays enacted by fifteen other states across the country, Wisconsin is going ahead with its in-person primary election Tuesday. The coronavirus pandemic will almost certainly worsen — and state Democratic leaders aren’t stopping it.
Voters go to the polls to cast their midterm ballots on November 6, 2018 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. (Darren Hauck / Getty Images)
With less than a week to go before a primary election that could jeopardize the health and civil rights of thousands of voters, Wisconsin’s Democratic leaders dithered.
Despite warnings from public health officials, and in contradiction with his own “Safer at Home” order, Governor Tony Evers is poised to allow in-person voting in next week’s elections to proceed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just one day after a federal judge chastised state leaders for holding the election, Joe Biden repeated his support for in-person voting and, in line with Wisconsin Republicans, refused to support an all-mail election in the state.
Wisconsin’s decision departs from the example set by fifteen politically diverse states — from deep-blue Rhode Island and New York to solid-red Georgia and Wyoming — which have delayed their primaries. Political leaders appear to have deliberately ignored evidence from Wisconsin’s southern neighbor Illinois, whose March 17 primary was an unmitigated disaster for public health and electoral democracy alike. Why?
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