UPDATE:The Wisconsin Supreme Court has rejected the governor’s decision to postpone the election.
NEWS: Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects Gov. Evers’ attempt to postpone election. photo:twitter.com/DHfgeERWAi
— Jason Calvi (@JasonCalvi) April 6, 2020
Original post
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order moving Tuesday’s election to June 9, citing concerns about the safety of in-person voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I stand up for them,” Evers said of concerned Wisconsinites. “I stand up for these people who are afraid, and that’s why I’m doing this.”
In addition to the Democratic primary between front-runners Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Wisconsin was set to hold a high-stakes election for the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. Conservative incumbent Judge Dan Kelly, who was appointed by former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, faced a unsafe challenge from progressive candidate Judge Jill Karofsky.
However, security prevailed over politics.
“The case could go to the Supreme Court today, but the bottom line is that the people of Wisconsin don’t care about the fight between Democrats and Republicans – they’re afraid.” @GovEvers he said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) April 6, 2020
Wisconsin is in good company 15 other states who postponed their own primaries, namely in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming. The Democratic National Committee postponed its convention to August 17, just days before the Republican National Convention.
As recently as last week, former Vice President Biden still supported holding Tuesday’s election.
Full video of Joe Biden endorsing in-person voting in the April 7, 2020, Wisconsin primary amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic — and refusing to support an all-mail election in person: photo:twitter.com/ySaEhMg7t2
— Colin Kalmbacher (@colinkalmbacher) April 2, 2020
“A convention with tens of thousands of people in one arena is a whole different thing than people walking into a voting booth six to 10 feet apart, one at a time, and then being scrubbed down with machines,” he tried to argue.
Reports suggest Governor Evers’ decision will lead to several court challenges in the coming days.
