Liberal groups: Allow extended voting in Wisconsin election

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrats and liberal groups on Sunday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand an extended absentee voting period for Wisconsin's spring primary, an election unfolding amid public health fears due to the coronavirus.

The groups argue that a federal judge's order this week extending absentee voting from Tuesday to April 13 is critical for a fair election and to protect public health. They said the crush of absentee ballot requests — more than 1.1 million, far more than any previous election — has made it impossible for clerks to get them out to voters and get them back in time to beat what had been an 8 p.m. election night deadline.

“These backlogs and delays will disenfranchise voters, in the absence of any emergency extension of the deadlines for mailing and receiving absentee ballots,” they argued. “The City Clerks for Milwaukee and Madison have concluded there is ‘no practical way’ that scores of thousands of voters from these two municipalities alone who have not yet received their absentee ballots will be able to vote and return their ballots by the deadline.”

Separately, a group of Wisconsin mayors on Sunday urged acting Health Secretary Andrea Palm “to step up and stop the State of Wisconsin from putting hundreds of thousands of citizens at risk” through in-person voting. The letter was signed by the mayors of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and other cities. Palm's press office hasn't responded to a request for comment.

Wisconsin is scheduled to conduct in-person voting on Tuesday despite concerns about the health risks to voters and poll workers. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders were initially united in sticking to the election date, but this week Evers reversed course and called for shifting to mail-only and extending absentee voting into May.

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