Tuesday, March 31, 2020

'I don't think you really can' make the election safe: Wisconsin gears up for next primary amid coronavirus

Wisconsin, one of the pivotal midwestern states for the 2020 general election, is also currently set to be the first state to restart the primary process next week amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
With more than a dozen states backloading the election calendar due to the novel coronavirus, the Badger State stands as an outlier, instead determined to forge ahead with their presidential nominating contest on April 7.
"Nothing has changed from my vantage point. We have several lawsuits occurring right now and so it's part of state law," Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said on Monday at a press conference on the outbreak, referring to five major lawsuits filed over the election across the state according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's in state law. The date is set and we're encouraging lots of people to vote absentee and online...and people are responding to that."
The decision to stay put is in part because more than just the presidential candidates are on the ballot for the upcoming spring election, which is a primary only at the presidential level and a general election for the state Supreme Court races and other local elections.
The upcoming contest also injects some sense of normalcy back into a primary season that was ground to a halt by the coronavirus.

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