On March 13, Louisana became the first state to delay its 2020 primary, which was scheduled for April 4, and will now be held June 20. The state’s May 9 general election will be held on July 25. As of today, 16 states and Puerto Rico have done the same. On Tuesday, despite an Executive Order from Governor Tony Evers (who is a Democrat), Wisconsin’s primary went ahead as scheduled. The state’s Supreme Court voted 4-2 on Monday (along ideological lines) that Evers couldn’t use emergency powers to postpone the election. Also on Monday, the United States Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny Wisconsin’s Democrats’ attempt to extend the absentee voting deadline. Why would you want to make it easier and safer for people to vote? CNN reports that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who signed the “firey” dissent, unlike whoever wrote the majority opinion) wrote that “the reasoning of her conservative colleagues ‘boggles’ the mind.”
One person who voiced her disappointment in the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision was former first lady, Michelle Obama, who usually stays out of the political fray or makes her opinions known through thoughtful comments that don’t directly name specific individuals. Here’s a recap from People of Michelle’s comments:
“Today, Wisconsin voters had to choose between making their voice heard and keeping themselves and their family safe,” Mrs. Obama, 56, tweeted. “No American should ever have to make that choice.”
Wisconsin decided to continue with its state primary vote, despite health officials’ warnings for Americans to practice social distancing and refrain from public gatherings.
Scenes at polling places in Wisconsin showed voters waiting in long lines, many wearing protective masks, in order to vote on Tuesday. Some voters showed up wearing gas masks, while others handed off their ballots at a distance.
“We must do better to ensure voting is safe for all voters,” the former first lady continued, sharing information on how voters in Wisconsin can make sure their absentee mail-in ballots will be counted.
CNN is one of the outlets that reported on what a nightmare this was:
Lines early Tuesday as voting began were long: So many poll workers quit that Milwaukee consolidated its 180 polling places down to just five locations — and in those locations, voters stretched around multiple blocks. Staffing at polling places looks different: Nearly 300 of the state’s National Guard troops will be replacing volunteers who quit.
And thousands of people requested absentee ballots ahead of last week’s deadline, but they won’t receive those ballots in time to mail them back, according to data reported by local clerks to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
CNN reported that as of Monday night, there were 2,511 active cases of coronavirus in the state and 85 deaths.
This tweet, which you’ve probably seen by now, says it all:
A defining photo of our current time….
captured in Milwaukee today by @Pmcknightnews, an intern with the @journalsentinel. pic.twitter.com/pCFjhOPuep
— Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) April 7, 2020
Michelle, RBG (and other rational, intelligent people) are right: No one should have to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote. I wonder how many more people in Wisconsin are going to be diagnosed or have symptoms in the next two weeks, and how many of those people will be able to say that they were at a polling location on Tuesday? This makes me even more worried about what will happen in November if more Repbulcan-controlled state legislatures go into overdrive and try to hand Trump a victory. And, of course, to state the obvious, when they make decisions like that of the Wisconsin Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court, they aren’t just endangering the lives of Democratic voters, they are endangering the lives of Republican voters and non-voters too.
Today, Wisconsin voters had to choose between making their voice heard and keeping themselves and their family safe. No American should ever have to make that choice.
We must do better to ensure voting is safe for all voters. The latest Wisconsin voting information is below. https://t.co/x1LwEb9H4N
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) April 7, 2020
If there are such things as karma, Trump and every single Republican will be punished by Mother Nature.
Karma doesnt work for those men . Karma only comes to normal woman. Republicans and their gang vote no matter what happens. But that’s not the case with Democrats and Democrats have lot of problem within the party with those left socialist , moderate etc. Young generation Democrat in congress will the end of that party. Some people are mad get aoc for screwing amazon job beacuse when it comes to money or ethics people choose money . Many jobs are lost beacuse of her . In the end people prefer going to job and complaing about their bosses and wedges than sitting at home. Another osmar case, she is so sharing with her citizenship stuff and getting in fight with Jews lobbyist . Jew and Israel is america biggest ally and republican will know tolerate people who criticize Israel especially those chruch goers in black community of Democrats. Those bunch got elected by hatred towards trump in 2018 and those bunch may not elected again.
I respectfully disagree. Young generations dems are our best hope. Along with the old school folks like Nancy Pelosi.
It’s the oligarchs who are the problem.
This crisis as well as their absolute ruthlessness in general is shining a light on how awful the republicans are. They don’t even try to hide it any more.
As this story was first unfolding, I thought I must have misunderstood what the issue is. I agree with RBG, It’s mind-boggling. Good for Michelle for speaking out.
Brit here. Absolutely outraged at what is blatant voter suppression happening in America rn. Grrrr. Also Mrs Obama’s hair is magnificent. I miss having decent people in leadership. This pandemic has really made me realise that, if nothing else, we need more female leadership > i.e. PM Jacinda Ardern.
I think a lot of people have realized that more female leadership is needed, hence the excitement among so many about Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris especially running for the nominations. Sadly, not nearly enough people agree.
This does not surprise me at all. As a mixed race woman born into poverty I grew up knowing democracy, meritocracy, and justice were just fairytales. No matter which party was, is, or will be in control fundamental structural change is needed. If you haven’t read what is in my opinion the best poem ever written about our country please see Langston Hughes: https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again
“The steel of freedom does not stain.”
This poem is the manifesto of our time. It is a directive. It’s the truth, in a world of lies.
Thank you for sharing. It made me cry. We are so broken, have been for so long.
That gave me goosebumps…thank you for sharing Aang, it should be required reading for every American.
Wow, she looks so different with that hair. Softens her face so much compared to the straighter style. I like it.
If ever you needed a reason to vote Democrat in 2020, there it is right there. A Supreme Court, telecomming from home, telling people they have to vote in person during a pandemic.
I live in Green Bay and people waited in line til almost midnight to vote😡
Fewer voters and dishonest practices are how they win…deplorable
Michelle is, as ever, absolutely spot on.
On a frivolous note, I LOVE her hair!!! She just becomes more stunning by the year, doesn’t she?
Her hair is gorgeous. She’s always been gorgeous, but I love how post-White House she feels free to let her light shine.
Wisconsin Republicans know they can’t win a legitimate election. My parents requested absentee ballots weeks ago and they never received them. My dad has COPD and they couldn’t risk going to the polls. This isn’t just a presidential primary, there was a Wisconsin supreme court seat on the ballot as well. Wisconsin Republicans will do anything to stay in power, and they will have blood on their hands after this.
Madisonian here, requested my ballot on March 15th, it was “mailed” the 16th and I still have yet to receive it. When I went to my polling place at 8am it was a ghost town. After 1pm there were lines out the door and workers were still processing ballots at 12:30am. 1000’s of students from the University went home and never received their ballots and could not come back to vote. The amount of mis-information and constantly changing information leading up to the election made it an absolute shit-show. Until 10pm the night before, I genuinely didn’t know if I could go vote or not, or if I had to call an overwhelmed city clerk to try and get them to email me a ballot. People mailed in absentee ballots without witnesses because at one point we were told we could, a day later we couldn’t.
Sure seemed like some were very desperate to keep people from voting and I wonder if that had anything to do with the State Supreme court seat we were voting on. Representative Vos, in his full hazmat suit, is going to find out in real time, how fucking stupid this was when his constituents are dead
This is just awful. All primaries should be suspended until this crisis has passed. Typical Repubs, though. Can’t win unless they cheat.
I moved here to Wisconsin almost a decade ago, right during the Walker recall vote, and have learned a lot since then about the lengths to which the GOP will go to suppress the vote. The GOP has been so good at gerrymandering and voter suppression here that they have an overwhelming majority in the legislature even though Dems got the majority of votes in the last election. And they’re now trying to purge hundreds of thousands of votes before the fall election to make sure Trump can win Wisconsin. Wisconsin is the birthplace of the GOP (back when they were the good guys) and is now the home of the worst efforts to undermine democracy. I love Wisconsin but I hate what the Wisconsin GOP has done to this state.
This is APPALLING.
If the Democrats take back the White House and by some miracle the Senate, I hope election security and voting rights are a big issue for them to tackle (amidst all the other insanity).
My state moved ours from June to July, but I’ve been doing vote by mail for a while now anyway. There was a big push for it here in 2018, and those ballots help flip my district to blue. If you can vote by mail in your state, I highly encourage you to pursue it, and do it early.
Michelle is amazing (and looks amazing) and I miss her and President Obama so very much.
Another Wisconsin voter here. I live in the Madison area and had requested an absentee ballot in February before the pandemic because with staffing situation where I work, there was a chance that I would not be able to make it to the polls. I received mine the last weekend of March when things were still normal and before everything shut down. I had my coworker witness my ballot sealing before we started working from home. She then requested absentee ballots for her and her husband.
I was able to talk my father through the steps on the phone of getting an absentee ballot the last weekend of March. He got his last weekend and I was his witness for the sealing, so he could get it dropped off at the post office last Saturday. My dad’s a former Republican who thinks that Robin Vos, who was an election official in his district in Racine in SE Wisconsin wearing full PPE gear, and Scott Fitzgerald, the two Republicans responsible for having it on Tuesday, can rot in hell. My dad hoped that someone with Covid coughed on Vos and infected him.
I worked on Tuesday in a building where one of the two open polling place were on the UW-Madison campus. I wasn’t expecting much foot traffic considering that campus is a ghost town and confusion surrounding it. There were a steady number of voters, mostly college students back in their apartments, wearing some face coverings and keeping their distance. It was encouraging. I had a virtual work meeting yesterday and two people voted in person. One person said her absentee ballot had not arrived and she made sure to go vote in person because she was so pissed off. I got the sense that many voters were like her who went out to vote in person to both do their civic duty and an act of resistance towards the WI GOP.
However, things seemed worse in Milwaukee with only 5 out of 180 precincts opened. Waukesha, a very Republican suburb of Milwaukee, had one polling place opened and from the pictures I saw, not many people in line were wearing face coverings and practicing social distancing.
Sending people to a potential death sentence in order to have the right to vote……………CRIMINAL!
There are no depths to which republicans will not go……….they have earned my hate. Shameful. Disgraceful. We have lost all the gatekeepers that held to a basic moral standard.
The same situation we have currently in Poland, where we should have presidential elections on May 10th. The party that the leading candidate and current president comes from (they also have majority in our parliament) does everything to make the election happen, no matter the costs and people’s health and lives. It came to the point where they want the elections to be carried out by mail, and people who won’t vote will be financially punished !!! It’s absolutely outrageous and unthinkable how power hungry people can be. So, my long point is, I feel you my American friends 🙂