The WI Supreme Court just ruled on a party-line vote (of course) that Wisconsin’s regularly scheduled spring election go ahead tomorrow, with in-person voting… during a pandemic.
Needless to say, this is absolute madness.
At least 16 other states (including red ones) have rescheduled spring elections because they recognized that in-person voting during a pandemic is gonna get people killed. But not Wisconsin.
I have no idea what comes next. I’d like to think Governor Evers and/or local clerks will just defy the court order and close the polls tomorrow. #ClerkStrike? If the corrupt WI Supreme Court wants to have an in-person election during a fucking pandemic, leave it up to them to try and conduct it. This court has spewed so much unconstitutional partisan bullshit over the years it’s time someone stood up to it.
Related: I stumbled across this video training for poll workers in the City of Janesville, WI.
May your preferred deity bless the city clerk and fire captain for going above and beyond in an impossible situation, but this is not gonna suffice to keep people safe. (Asking people to remove their masks while you check their photo ID seems particularly iffy.) And even if the guidelines were designed perfectly, we’re talking about thousands of first-time poll workers who also happen to be first-time PPE-wearers. Mistakes will be made.
Keep in mind, this is probably representative of the jurisdictions most prepared for this. There are about 2,000 municipalities in Wisconsin, and each one runs its own elections. And one of the biggest things Janesville has going for it is their decision to use a giant abandoned Sears store as a polling place to allow for maximum space for social distancing. Not every town has such a space available.
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 · 12:44:04 AM +00:00 · lufthase
UPDATE: It gets even worse. Thousands of absentee ballots just aren’t gonna be counted now thanks to the US Supreme Court.
From the WI State Journal (emphasis added):
“Wisconsin's statewide election is still on after the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday struck down Gov. Tony Evers' executive order postponing Tuesday's election and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that voters' absentee ballots must be postmarked by 8 p.m. Tuesday to be counted….
The U.S. Supreme Court order stems from three separate cases asking for various voting accommodations in light of COVID-19 that were consolidated....
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling overturns much of the 7th circuit ruling and means Wisconsinites must have their absentee ballots postmarked by Tuesday at 8 p.m., submit their ballot in-person or vote at a polling place for their vote to count.”
This is gonna disenfranchise thousands of people. Main issue stems from the sheer volume of absentee ballot requests causing backlogs at clerks’ offices. And it’s made even worse by dueling court rulings changing the deadlines multiple times on voters.
WI Elections Commission publishes stats on absentee ballot status. The rule in effect right this minute says you have to have your absentee ballot postmarked by election day, 4/7. Now, in order to pull that off in real life, your clerk would have had to have your ballot in the mail to you no later than Saturday 4/4, to give you a chance of getting it on Monday or Tuesday.
As of Saturday 4/4, WI’s municipal election clerks had sent out 1,239,477 absentee ballots. The most recent update shows 1,275,154 absentee ballot requests received.
So, assuming every one of those ballots actually made it from the clerks and into the hands of the USPS on 4/4 and everything else went smoothly, that’s at least 35,677 people who did all the right things but either won’t have their vote counted or will have to go vote in-person tomorrow, with all that comes along with that. Ugh.