Covid Chronicles. Chapter 19: Wisconsin Spring Election Take Place as Originally Scheduled

Read chapter 18 here

Monday, April 6 

Wisconsin is holding its spring election today. What a crazy and ominous route we traveled to get there. 

On Thursday, April 2, U.S. District Judge William Conley, in response to a number of lawsuits that had been filed, declined to postpone the election. Instead, his decision included three ‘tweaks’ to the election process: 1.

1. Extend the deadline for voters to request an absentee ballots by one day 
2. Extend the deadline for completed ballots to be received from 8 p.m. on April 7 to the same time on April 13 
3. Prohibit the state from enforcing the requirement that absentee ballots be signed by a witness when voters include a statement that they were unable to safely obtain one. (This provision was reversed the following day.)

On Friday, Governor Evers called for a special session of the state legislature to consider an all-mail election. For days, he has been encouraging Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to approve the mailing of ballots to all voters in the state. Predictably, Vos responded that such an action is “an invitation to voter fraud”, this from someone who worked hand-in-hand with Scott Walker to implement some of the most restrictive voter suppression laws in the nation. Fitzgerald dismissed the request as “a complete fantasy”. 

On Saturday, both the Senate and Assembly convened, most members attending remotely, but GOP leaders quickly gaveled both sessions to an end within seconds, preventing any debate or vote taking place. Fitzgerald and Vos announced that both bodies would meet on Monday.

 Throwing down the gauntlet Monday morning, Governor Evers announced an executive order to postpone the election until June 6th. Prior to this action, he had stated multiple times that he didn’t have the authority to do so. As he reads the state law, the authority resides exclusively with the legislature. Why the change of mind? I think he just wanted to force the GOP to act, to show just how far they’ll to put people in danger in order to maintain their voter suppression principles. 

True to form, Fitzgerald and Vos immediately took the bait and brought their challenge of the executive order to the GOP-friendly Wisconsin Supreme Court. Of the 7 members of this body, 5 are beholden to conservative -- frequently reactionary -- special interests: the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, a statewide business association; Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a Milwaukee-based ‘think tank’ that was stuck like glue to Scott Walker throughout his two terms as governor; and the Bradley Foundation, which bills itself as a ‘private, independent grant-making organization.” (Cue the laugh track of Lucy and Ethel working on the candy factory assembly line.) This organization is also based in Milwaukee. Its founder, Harry Bradley, donates millions of dollars to far-right conservative causes and is one of Scott Walker’s biggest financial donors. 

In other words, it was no surprise that the justices sided with the GOP and voted 4-2 to overrule Evers’ executive order. (Daniel Kelly, a Walker appointee who is running for his first full term, recused himself since his name is on the spring ballot.) 

What was most shocking to me was the U.S. Supreme Court weighing in and nullifying federal Judge Conley’s ruling that absentee ballots may be accepted until April 13. In a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the court determined that all ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on April 7, i.e., when the polls close. 

If I were Donald Trump, I’d feel pretty damn good about my chances to postpone the November general election. At a time when we need mass protests, the pandemic prevents us from doing so, at least as far as gathering in public is concerned. Time to get creative with virtual protests. Scary times. 

But at least we had a positive outcome in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. 

A big win for Jill! The Court now has a 4-3 conservative/liberal split.

Read chapter 20 here