Texas voters cast more than 4.6 million votes in first week of early voting
The key presidential battleground of Wisconsin kicks off early voting today — just as the state is grappling with a record number of Covid-19 cases, a stark echo of the state’s chaotic April primary in the midst of shelter-in-place restrictions.
That election went forward over Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ objections after the state Supreme Court rejected his effort to delay the primary due to coronavirus, and the US Supreme Court reversed a lower court allowing extra days for voters to return ballots by mail.
The resulting election was marred by widespread reports of problems with absentee ballots, a dire shortage of poll workers, lines that stretched for hours at some polling places and warnings that voting may have ended up spreading coronavirus.
State and local election officials said they’ve learned from the problems that hampered the primary and are better prepared for the November election. But the two-week early voting period begins Tuesday as the state’s coronavirus case rates are setting records. Johns Hopkins University reported a record of 3,861 new cases on Friday, which beat the previous record of 3,743 set just a day earlier.
Even the deadline for the state’s absentee ballots remains up in the air. A federal judge ruled last month that Wisconsin could tally mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day if they arrived up to six days later. But an appeals court panel blocked that decision this month, ruling in favor of the Republican-led Legislature, and Democratic groups have appealed to the Supreme Court.
Wisconsin was one of three Rust Belt states that gave Presiden Trump the White House in 2016, and he and Democratic nominee Joe Biden have made the state a frequent campaign stop, including Trump’s Saturday visit to Janesville.
Like other states, Wisconsin has seen a major influx of absentee ballots returned: As of Monday morning, Wisconsin voters had returned more than 863,000 absentee ballots, according to data from the state Elections Commission.
State and local election officials say they believe the steps they’ve taken will make for a smoother election this time around, including ramping up the number of poll workers in each county, keeping voters outside if possible and giving poll workers protective equipment and plexiglass barriers.
The Wisconsin Election Commission has focused on hiring poll workers for Election Day, and Meagan Wolfe, the commission’s chief official, said last week the state was only about 180 workers short out of 30,000 needed.
Madison, the state’s capital, has doubled the number of people to work the polls, signing up 6,000, compared with 3,000 in the last three presidential elections, said Maribeth Witzel-Behl, the city clerk.
CNN’s Omar Jimenez is on the ground in Wisconsin speaking to voters:
