Yesterday’s Election in Wisconsin Was a Mess From Top to Bottom

Yesterday, Wisconsin became the first state to hold an election since the COVID-19 coronavirus shut down most aspects of public life in the United States, and it was a complete mess.

Leading up to yesterday, the state’s political leaders were in a bitter fight over whether the election would even happen. Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, tried to postpone the election—as 15 other states have done with their primaries—but Republican lawmakers refused, and on Monday, the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court overturned his executive order.

The court also overruled a lower court’s decision to extend absentee voting. Absentee ballots had to be postmarked by Tuesday (which was a slight extension from the previous rule that they had to be received by then), but the state wasn’t prepared for the enormous surge in requests for those ballots (from people who, understandably, didn’t want to vote in person because of the virus), and they had a huge backlog. Thousands of people reportedly never even received their ballot.

So, yesterday, Wisconsin voters were forced to choose between their health and safety and their civic right.

All of this also comes two years after Wisconsin Republicans voted to shorten the early voting period to just two weeks. Making things even worse, hundreds of polling places across the state closed, meaning that by 7AM Tuesday, there were hours-long lines wrapping around the block at the few locations left open.

It’s absolutely absurd that this is a party issue, but of course it is. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissenting opinion, the court’s move “will result in massive disenfranchisement,” and it’s Democratic voters who are hit hardest by that disenfranchisement—poor voters, POC, and those living in larger cities (hence the longer lines and, therefore, increased risk), which tend to skew blue.

Ben Wikler, the head of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party, said in a statement that the court’s decision will “consign an unknown number of Wisconsinites to their deaths.” Justice Ginsburg said it “boggles the mind.”

It’s not clear yet what kind of precedent the situation in Wisconsin might set for other states’ primaries and the general election in November. Donald Trump is obviously on the Republicans’ side, pushing the politicization of voting during a pandemic. During his press briefing Monday, he accused Democrats of just pretending to be concerned about safety while pushing for easier voting. He also railed against absentee voting, calling it “corrupt.”

“Now, mail ballots—they cheat. Okay? People cheat,” he said. “Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they’re cheaters. They go and collect them. They’re fraudulent in many cases. You got to vote. And they should have voter ID, by the way. If you want to really do it right, you have voter ID.”

By the way, Wisconsin does have a voter ID law.

Trump has also mocked Joe Biden for considering a virtual version of the Democratic National Convention this summer.

“Gee, I wonder why?” Because he’s taking this pandemic seriously and doesn’t want to put people in danger, which are obviously not concepts Trump understands.

(image: Andy Manis/Getty Images)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com

Author

Close

Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

twitter