Here & Now

Spring Election in Limbo Amid COVID19 Crisis

Frederica Freyberg:

Looking ahead, we are just 11 days away from the April 7 spring election as it is currently scheduled, but there are four lawsuits in the federal courts right now that could scramble those plans, including one lawsuit seeking to postpone the election. And just today, Governor Tony Evers asked Republicans in the legislature to come back into session and pass a law that would send absentee ballots out to every voter, although the governor still wants the election held on April 7. “Here & Now” senior political reporter Zac Schultz is here with some information on all of this and thanks for joining us, Zac.

Zac Schultz:

Thank you, Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:

So again, the governor wants people to just get a ballot in the mail without having to request one?

Zac Schultz:

That’s the idea he proposed to the legislature today in a video that he posted on Twitter. That the clerk would just automatically mail out a ballot to everyone. There’s a lot of problems in that idea. Republican Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald already said it’s a complete fantasy to think that that will actually happen. Just a week ago, the Elections Commission was worried about having enough envelopes to send out the requested absentee ballots, never mind going to every voter on the list.

Frederica Freyberg:

So that’s why it’s a fantasy, just because it would be a logistical nightmare?

Zac Schultz:

11 days out, I mean we’re already voting in a lot of places. There’s already been half a million ballot requests from around the state, absentee ballot requests. So to think that there’s enough time to put this together, the clerks I’ve been talking to over the last week were worried about just pulling it off in general. I think I have enough envelopes for what I’m expecting. They don’t have enough envelopes for every voter on the rolls at this point.

Frederica Freyberg:

Still, Evers stopped short of calling off or delaying in-person voting on April 7.

Zac Schultz:

He does not have the legal authority to postpone this election on his own. It’s already been agreed by just about everybody that he would need the legislature to pass a law that would do that. The only way he could try and do that is if he used it under his emergency powers the same way he’s shutting down nonessential businesses or closing schools. But at this point, clearly he isn’t ready to try and use those powers to postpone the election.

Frederica Freyberg:

So again, elected leaders want to proceed with in-person voting on April 7.

Zac Schultz:

That’s correct. There’s a lot of reasons why. Some of the people on the Elections Commission say they’re worried about some of the lower races on this ballot, for county board, for city council. There’s school board referenda on here that are worth millions of dollars for schools. If it’s indefinitely postponed, when would that happen? When would these counties be able to seat their officers and actually pass local laws? Never mind the fact that voting is already ongoing. Plus there’s the partisan question about who would be advantaged by delaying this election and there’s both sides wondering about who could take advantage of that mostly.

Frederica Freyberg:

Does getting mailed a ballot reduce other barriers to submitting them, like witness signatures or attaching photo IDs?

Zac Schultz:

The witness signature is a big issue right now. It’s actually one of the subjects of one of these federal lawsuits right now. The question is if you’re isolating and you live alone, how do you get someone to witness? The witness is there to see you stuff the ballot in the envelope and then you sign to say this is my ballot and then you give it to the witness and they sign and put their address down saying I witnessed this happen. The problem is how do you do that if you’re by yourself? Well, the Elections Commission says “Get creative. You can do this through a glass door or a window. You can do it via Skype as long as later on the witness comes by and validates.” The most important thing they want to stress, because there’s a lot of people who are probably voting absentee for the first time in their lives, is the witness has to put their name and their address on that envelope when they return it. If they don’t, the ballot is invalid. It will not be counted. Another factor, Fred, I want to make sure that people understand is the ballot has to be returned to the polling place or the clerk’s office by 8:00 on election night. If it’s late or if it’s in the mail, it doesn’t count. That’s the subject of another federal lawsuit that’s going on right now. But right now, you can still drive your absentee to the poll place on election day if you don’t think there’s time for it to get through the mail.

Frederica Freyberg:

Lots and lots going on. Zac Schultz, thanks very much.

Zac Schultz:

Thank you.