Wisconsin Voting Underway Despite Virus
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin is asking hundreds of thousands of voters to ignore a stay-at-home order in the midst of a pandemic to participate in Tuesday’s presidential primary election, becoming a test case for dozens of states struggling to balance public health concerns with a core pillar of democracy.
The National Guard is helping to run voting sites across the state after thousands of election workers stepped down fearing for their safety. Dozens of polling places are closed, but those that are active opened at 7 a.m. CDT and will remain open until 8 p.m.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday morning Superior Mayor Jim Paine reminded residents that polling places in Wisconsin will offer curbside voting, they will need to have their ID ready to show, and absentee ballots postmarked today and received by Monday will be counted but people are encouraged to drop off their ballots at the government center.
Voting will take place today. Here’s your map through all the confusion.
All polling places are open from 7 am to 8 pm…
Posted by Jim Paine, Mayor of Superior on Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Hundreds of voters across the state, many without masks covering their faces, waited in line to cast ballots at crowded polling sites Tuesday morning.
Some poll workers, including the Republican state Assembly speaker, were wearing masks, gloves and what appeared to be surgical scrubs.
Results were not expected to be released election night. In the wake of a legal battle over whether to conduct the election as scheduled, a court ruling appeared to prevent results from being made public earlier than April 13.
