By John Whitesides
(Reuters) – Democratic Governor Tony Evers said on Friday he was askingWisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature to cancel in-person voting in next week’s presidential primary, making it an all-mail election and extending the time to return ballots until late May.
Evers signed an executive order calling the legislature into a special session to consider his request on Saturday, three days before Wisconsin voters are scheduled to conduct an election amid worries about the health risks from the coronavirus pandemic.
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a legal request by a voting rights group to delay Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin, where residents are under orders to stay at home and public gatherings are banned. But the judge extended the deadline for receiving absentee ballots in the contest to April 13.
Evers, who had come under fire for not seeking a delay in the contest, said in a video message to state residents that officials should share the responsibility with citizens to keep the state healthy.
“I am calling the Legislature into a special session to do its part – just as all of us are – to help keep our neighbors, our families, and our communities safe,” he said.
The pandemic has disrupted the Democratic race to pick a challenger for Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 U.S. election, forcing more than a dozen states to delay or adjust their primaries to limit the health risks.
Republicans have resisted the idea of an all-mail election, citing potential fraud, administrative issues and the short timeline. The Wisconsin legislature has the legal authority to delay the primary.
Concerns about coronavirus have left nearly 60% of the state’s municipalities with a shortage of poll workers, and more than 100 municipalities without staff for even one polling site, the state’s elections commission reported. The Wisconsin Army National Guard is set to help at the polls Tuesday.
(Reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Tom Brown)
