Wisconsin will hold its primary election on Tuesday after all.
The state’s high court blocked Gov. Tony Evers (D) executive order calling for a postponement of in-person voting until June — a win for Republicans in the state who have fought any election day changes to account for the coronavirus pandemic.
The 4-2 decision, with conservative justices in favor and liberal justices dissenting, came less than a day before polls are set to open in Wisconsin.
Evers tried to unilaterally change the election’s date, originally scheduled for April 7, to June 9 in an order unveiled Monday afternoon. The order stood on uneasy legal grounds as Wisconsin’s primary election date is set by state statute. Last week, even Evers, seemingly resigned to the April 7 election day, said his hands were tied.
Republicans hellbent on keeping election day plans intact appealed Evers’s order immediately.
“Defying numerous state-election statutes and his countless previous statements that he clearly lacks legal authority to cancel tomorrow’s election, the Governor announced moments ago — at the eleventh hour — that he was doing just that,” Republicans’ petition to the high court said.
The Republican-majority state Legislature has refused to change the election to mail-in ballots only, as Evers repeatedly proposed. The governor, in a last-minute plea to state lawmakers, called for a special session of the Legislature on Saturday, but Republicans gaveled out in mere seconds.
A federal court ruled in favor of expanding absentee voting by extending the deadline to submit ballots from April 7 to April 13. State Republicans unsuccessfully tried to appeal that decision as well.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, both Republicans, have called voting essential business and said the governor’s proposal to send absentee ballots to every Wisconsin registered voter was logistically impossible.
“Hundreds of thousands of workers are going to their jobs every day, serving in essential roles in our society. There’s no question that an election is just as important as getting take-out food,” the two Republican leaders said in a statement last week.
The state’s elections administrator continued planning for an election Tuesday, despite Evers’s order, knowing there was this possibility for a court appeal. But the state is still facing an uphill battle; there’s a massive shortage of poll workers, the governor has already had to deploy thousands of National Guards and the state is seeing possibly more absentee ballots than it has ever had to process.
Already the state has warned to not expect results on election day as more than 1 million absentee ballots have been requested and clerks will receive them until April 13.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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