The On Again, Off Again (On Again) Election...

Governor Tony Evers on Monday signed an executive order suspending in-person voting the following day. The resolution effectively rescheduled the Tuesday, April 7 election to June 9, 2020, although many voters have already cast their ballots by mail and in early voting at village and city halls around the state. 

But the state supreme court reversed Evers’ decision a few hours later, on the eve of the election in what has been the most dizzying back-and-forth run-up to a local election in memory. 

In the order, Evers said that holding the election Tuesday would have put every voter, and thousands of poll workers, at risk during a global pandemic. 

“Today, I signed an executive order suspending in-person voting for tomorrow’s election. Frankly, there’s no good answer to this problem—I wish it were easy. I have been asking everyone to do their part to help keep our families, our neighbors, and our communities safe, and I had hoped that the Legislature would do its part—just as the rest of us are—to help keep people healthy and safe,” said Evers. “But as municipalities are consolidating polling locations, and absent legislative or court action, I cannot in good conscience stand by and do nothing. The bottom line is that I have an obligation to keep people safe, and that’s why I signed this executive order today.”

All ballots already cast in the 2020 Spring election will remain valid and will be tallied in conjunction with the new in-person voting date.

Evers’ resolution states that as of Sunday, 2,267 Wisconsinites had tested positive for COVID-19, 624 Wisconsinites have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 and 68 Wisconsinites had died as a result of the virus. A total of 241,703 individuals in the United States had tested positive for COVID-19, and 5,854 had passed away as a result of COVID- 19, and, worldwide, more than 1 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 62,000 people have passed away as a result of COVID-19.

The Spring 2020 election, whenever it is finally done, includes a broad variety of ballot issues including presidential preference primaries for both major national political parties; a state-wide referendum on a proposed amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution; 132 county, school district, and local referenda; an election for a seat as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court; elections for 3 seats as judges of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals; elections for 34 seats as judges of county circuit courts; elections for 102 seats as judges of municipal courts; elections for 1,596 county supervisors and officers; elections for 763 alders, mayors, and other city offices; elections for 464 village board trustees, board members, and other offices; elections for 291 town supervisors, clerks, and other offices; elections for 565 seats on the boards of common, union, and unified school districts; and elections for 12 seats as supervisors on the boards of sanitary districts.

Wisconsin’s elections are overseen by the Wisconsin Elections Commission and are administered by 1,850 municipal clerks or election commissions and 72 county clerks. 

The governor previously signed an order calling the Legislature to meet in a special session to send a ballot to every registered voter, allow an all-mail election, and extend the time for those ballots to be received and counted. The Legislature did not take up these changes in special session.