SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A sign marks the location of a polling place on August 14, 2018 in Janesville, Wisconsin. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
With Public Health and Democracy at Stake, Wisconsin Governor Issues Order Postponing In-Person Primary Voting Until June
"The chaos in Wisconsin is exhibit A for why US needs to adopt universal vote by mail."
Apr 06, 2020
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday issued an order suspending in-person voting in the state's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, calling the risk of sending voters to the polls in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak an unacceptable choice forced on Wisconsinites between "exercising their constitutional right to vote and being safe, secure, and healthy."
The order (pdf) postpones the date of in-person voting in the election to June 9.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Evers--a Democrat--referred to attempts over the weekend by himself and other state lawmakers to change the voting date which were defeated by the Republican-led state legislature.
"At the end of the day, this is about the people of Wisconsin," said Evers. "They frankly don't care much about Republicans and Democrats fighting. They're scared. We have the surgeon general saying this is Pearl Harbor. It's time to act."
"Imagine if the GOP was as committed to public health as it is to stopping people from voting in Wisconsin!" tweeted lawyer Marc Elias in response to state Republicans fighting to keep the election on Tuesday.
As Common Dreams reported earlier Monday, a group of 10 Wisconsin mayors sent an open letter to the state's Department of Health Services asking the agency to use emergency powers to shut down voting in the state due to the outbreak.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has also called on state officials to postpone in-person voting. Sanders' remaining rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, opined on April 2 that voting in person could be safe if booths were disinfected and cleaned between voters.
The order will likely face legal challenges. Whether or not Evers has the power to change the date of the election has been a hotly contested question throughout the process.
"I just absolutely believe the people of Wisconsin are ready for this and will embrace it, and I'm counting on the judicial system to feel the same," Evers told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Regardless of the legal issues, I absolutely have the belief that the governor has to step up and stand up for those people. No one else is."
Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman, a voting rights expert, said in a tweet that the lessons from the Wisconsin debacle for American elections should not be ignored.
"The chaos in Wisconsin is exhibit A for why US needs to adopt universal vote by mail and every state should send a ballot to all registered voters," said Berman, "or else we'll see voter suppression on an unprecedented scale in November."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday issued an order suspending in-person voting in the state's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, calling the risk of sending voters to the polls in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak an unacceptable choice forced on Wisconsinites between "exercising their constitutional right to vote and being safe, secure, and healthy."
The order (pdf) postpones the date of in-person voting in the election to June 9.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Evers--a Democrat--referred to attempts over the weekend by himself and other state lawmakers to change the voting date which were defeated by the Republican-led state legislature.
"At the end of the day, this is about the people of Wisconsin," said Evers. "They frankly don't care much about Republicans and Democrats fighting. They're scared. We have the surgeon general saying this is Pearl Harbor. It's time to act."
"Imagine if the GOP was as committed to public health as it is to stopping people from voting in Wisconsin!" tweeted lawyer Marc Elias in response to state Republicans fighting to keep the election on Tuesday.
As Common Dreams reported earlier Monday, a group of 10 Wisconsin mayors sent an open letter to the state's Department of Health Services asking the agency to use emergency powers to shut down voting in the state due to the outbreak.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has also called on state officials to postpone in-person voting. Sanders' remaining rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, opined on April 2 that voting in person could be safe if booths were disinfected and cleaned between voters.
The order will likely face legal challenges. Whether or not Evers has the power to change the date of the election has been a hotly contested question throughout the process.
"I just absolutely believe the people of Wisconsin are ready for this and will embrace it, and I'm counting on the judicial system to feel the same," Evers told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Regardless of the legal issues, I absolutely have the belief that the governor has to step up and stand up for those people. No one else is."
Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman, a voting rights expert, said in a tweet that the lessons from the Wisconsin debacle for American elections should not be ignored.
"The chaos in Wisconsin is exhibit A for why US needs to adopt universal vote by mail and every state should send a ballot to all registered voters," said Berman, "or else we'll see voter suppression on an unprecedented scale in November."
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday issued an order suspending in-person voting in the state's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, calling the risk of sending voters to the polls in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak an unacceptable choice forced on Wisconsinites between "exercising their constitutional right to vote and being safe, secure, and healthy."
The order (pdf) postpones the date of in-person voting in the election to June 9.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Evers--a Democrat--referred to attempts over the weekend by himself and other state lawmakers to change the voting date which were defeated by the Republican-led state legislature.
"At the end of the day, this is about the people of Wisconsin," said Evers. "They frankly don't care much about Republicans and Democrats fighting. They're scared. We have the surgeon general saying this is Pearl Harbor. It's time to act."
"Imagine if the GOP was as committed to public health as it is to stopping people from voting in Wisconsin!" tweeted lawyer Marc Elias in response to state Republicans fighting to keep the election on Tuesday.
As Common Dreams reported earlier Monday, a group of 10 Wisconsin mayors sent an open letter to the state's Department of Health Services asking the agency to use emergency powers to shut down voting in the state due to the outbreak.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has also called on state officials to postpone in-person voting. Sanders' remaining rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, opined on April 2 that voting in person could be safe if booths were disinfected and cleaned between voters.
The order will likely face legal challenges. Whether or not Evers has the power to change the date of the election has been a hotly contested question throughout the process.
"I just absolutely believe the people of Wisconsin are ready for this and will embrace it, and I'm counting on the judicial system to feel the same," Evers told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Regardless of the legal issues, I absolutely have the belief that the governor has to step up and stand up for those people. No one else is."
Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman, a voting rights expert, said in a tweet that the lessons from the Wisconsin debacle for American elections should not be ignored.
"The chaos in Wisconsin is exhibit A for why US needs to adopt universal vote by mail and every state should send a ballot to all registered voters," said Berman, "or else we'll see voter suppression on an unprecedented scale in November."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.