The vote must go on, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, siding with Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature. Gov. Tony Evers (D) had issued an executive order Monday afternoon to postpone today’s primary election featuring Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The public health risk is too great.
Republicans immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court which overturned the order. In a separate case, the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled 5-4 along ideological lines to overturn a lower court ruling that would extend the deadline for casting an absentee ballot.
“The question here is whether tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens can vote safely in the midst of a pandemic,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court’s dissenters. And despite a stay-at-home order issued by Evers, and after he called in late March for an absentee ballot to be mailed to every voter. Republicans called the suggestion “logistically impossible and incredibly flawed.” Elections officials agreed.
Other states have postponed primaries rather than encourage voters to congregate in school gymnasiums to cast ballots during the coronavirus outbreak.
Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House’s coronavirus task force warned people this week against even going to the grocery store. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned, “This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly.” The CDC began recommending that people wear cloth face coverings when in public to prevent spreading the virus. With photo ID’s required to vote in Wisconsin, will voters wearing masks have to remove them for identification at check-in?
This is nuts.
People will die from exercising their franchise. Poll workers fear catching, spreading coronavirus, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Many polling places will be short-staffed or even unopened.
“All this has led to reasonable speculation that Wisconsin Republicans are actively hoping to carry through this election with lower turnout,” writes Greg Sargent. “because they believe that will benefit them in a big race: one that pits conservative Justice Daniel Kelly against liberal challenger Jill Karofsky, competing for a 10-year term in a coveted state supreme court seat.”
“It’s very telling that Wisconsin Republicans care more about preserving their conservative majority on state Supreme Court than whether people will die as a result of voting tomorrow,” Ari Berman of Mother Jones tweeted Monday evening. By holding that majority, the GOP might continue suppressing the vote in Wisconsin, Berman continued, “Absentee ballot returns up in GOP counties but not Dem ones. So they want to force Dem voters to choose b/t health & ballot.”
Wisconsin Democratic state chair Ben Wikler wants to make sure voters know the GOP legislators behind forcing that choice on them:
Donald Trump’s GOP, desperate to retain power as a minority party, has moved from being a cult of personality to being a death cult. Power is as addictive as any opiate. Addicts will go to any length to obtain their next rush.
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide election mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.
Note: The pandemic will upend standard field tactics in 2020. If enough promising “improvisations” come my way by June, perhaps I can issue a COVID-19 supplement.