Here & Now

Absentee Requests Rise Amid Coronavirus Concerns

Zac Schultz:

The COVID-19 pandemic has up-ended Wisconsin’s spring election the way no candidate ever could.

Donald Trump:

Hello.

Zac Schultz:

Donald Trump has been forced to cancel planned appearances in the state.

Bernie Sanders:

Hello, everybody.

Zac Schultz:

While presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders have shifted to online rallies.

Ben Wikler:

We have to balance and simultaneously achieve the goals of keeping Wisconsin healthy and making sure we get out and vote for Jill for justice.

Zac Schultz:

Republicans and Democrats have ended their door-to-door get out to vote operations.

Ben Wikler:

At the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, we are undertaking an unprecedented, state-wide, field-organizing operation that will take place entirely online.

Man:

Because of all the virus stuff, I thought, might as well take advantage of how easy it is. I work downtown.

Zac Schultz:

So far, visitors are listening. Absentee voting has been gaining in popularity in recent years, but the number of people requesting absentee ballots by mail for this election has skyrocketed.

Jim Verbick:

We had a very significant spike.

Zac Schultz:

Jim Verbick is deputy clerk for the city of Madison and says they’ve called in volunteers from other city agencies to process ballot requests at a rate of 360 an hour.

Jim Verbick:

We’re getting a lot of help from other city agencies. It’s been all-hands-on-deck.

Zac Schultz:

Verbick says they’ve seen two big spikes in absentee by mail requests: one when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and the second after this.

Tony Evers:

As Secretary Palm mentioned, I directed her to order a state-wide moratorium on mass gatherings of 10 people or more.

Jim Verbick:

We were doing about 5,600 absentee applications sitting in our inbox, and then starting last night, that was when we crossed the 10,000 threshold. That was a very significant spike.

Zac Schultz:

People are also voting early in person, risking the crowds here in order to avoid crowds on election day.

Woman:

We would get out and do it now so that we wouldn’t be standing in huge crowds. In fact, we decided we would come here and see if there was a huge crowd here, and then maybe we would wait until tomorrow.

Chris Astrella:

Already this morning, we have had a few people come in to vote.

Zac Schultz:

The concerns are the same in rural Wisconsin.

Chris Astrella:

We ask them before we even interact with them, “Please wash your hands or sanitize them.”

Zac Schultz:

Chris Astrella is the clerk of the town of Oakland in Jefferson County.

Chris Astrella:

This morning actually in my email inbox, I had 39 requests for absentee ballots through the mail. Normally, I would get that in a week or two.

Zac Schultz:

Astrella is one half of a staff of two and worries what will happen if they get sick.

Chris Astrella:

If we have to shut the office down for a couple of weeks because both of us have to self-quarantine, virtually nothing would get done.

Zac Schultz:

The bigger concern is what happens on election day. The city of Madison has had to find new polling locations.

Jim Verbick:

We’ve had a significant number of our polling places say that they can’t have us on election day: the Madison schools, care facilities.

Zac Schultz:

Poll workers across the state tend to be older and in the high-risk category for COVID-19.

Chris Astrella:

It is something that I’m concerned about. If we have enough election workers drop out, I’m not 100% sure how we’re gonna handle it.

Zac Schultz:

Reporting from Madison, I’m Zac Schultz for “Here and Now.”