Despite state and federal health recommendations to stay home and avoid mass gatherings in public, thousands of Wisconsin voters waited hours in long lines outside overcrowded polling stations on April 7, to participate in the democratic process during a catastrophic pandemic.
Residents in Milwaukee were forced to choose between exercising their Constitutional right to select their representation in government or the safety of their lives and families, thanks to Republican Legislators in Madison who seized the health emergency to suppress voter participation and disenfranchise minorities.
Some poll workers in Milwaukee wore makeshift hazmat suits, more reminiscent of health care professionals than electoral volunteers. Most voters came prepared with masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes. Many said they were overwhelmed with fear.
The April 7 vote came after weeks of legal fighting about if the election should proceed as scheduled, be extended or delayed, or switched from in-person voting to mail-in voting, as the coronavirus ravaged Wisconsin’s population.
Governor Tony Evers attempted to push back the controversial election until June with an emergency order on April 6, but the Republican-controlled state Legislature immediately made an appeal to the state Supreme Court, which ruled 4-2 to strike the order down in just a matter of hours.
Another legal ruling came at about the same from the U.S. Supreme Court, when it approved one of the most brazen acts of voter suppression in modern history. By a vote of 5-4, the court declared the votes of citizens who mailed in their absentee ballots late nullified. The delays were triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and all remedies to correct were rejected.