Wisconsin held its spring election for nonpartisan, local, and judicial offices, as well as its presidential preference primary. The date of this election and deadline to submit absentee ballots became a matter of controversy amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin. At least fifteen other U.S. states cancelled or postponed scheduled elections or primaries at the time of Wisconsin’s election.
About 2020 Wisconsin elections in brief
Wisconsin held its spring election for nonpartisan, local, and judicial offices, as well as its presidential preference primary. The date of this election and deadline to submit absentee ballots became a matter of controversy amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin. In the November general election, the Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, won Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes, defeating incumbent President Donald Trump. In Wisconsin, a swing state with a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature, an April 7 election for a state Supreme Court seat, the federal presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, and several other judicial and local elections went ahead as scheduled. Due to the pandemic, at least fifteen other U.S. states cancelled or postponed scheduled elections or primaries at the time of Wisconsin’s election. Wisconsin voters also approved an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin known popularly as Marsy’s Law, intended to grant new rights to victims of crimes. A special election was held on May 12, 2020, to fill the vacancy in Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district. The Republican candidate won the special election, causing no change to the congressional delegation’s partisan makeup. The primary for this election washeld concurrent with the spring primary on February 18, 2020. This was the last primary of the 2020 Democratic nominating contest before Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his 2020 campaign.
The New York Times stated that the election was “almost certain to be tarred as illegitimate to be used to tar the state’s inability to get things done” The state Democratic lawmakers made several attempts to postpone their election, but were prevented by other Republican legislators. They called the election “the most undemocratic in Wisconsin history, adding that it put everything we’ve gained from the past three weeks of staying home and keeping our distance from the world at risk” The Republican lawmakers to not alter the election, such as to a mail-only vote, was sharply criticized by the local editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which had endorsed the Republican governor Scott Walker. The election went ahead on April 7, with the Democrats’ preferred candidate winning re-election on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. On the same day, a separate effort to extend the deadline for mailing absentee ballots was blocked by the Supreme Court of the United States. However, local media outlets reported that many voters had not received their requested absentee ballots by election day or, due to social distancing, were unable to satisfy a legal requirement that they obtain a witness’s signature. Three tubs of ballots from Oshkosh and Appleton were found undelivered the next day, requiring voters who had requested a ballot to come in at a polling station or forfeit their vote. In the Wisconsin Republican presidential preferencePrimary, incumbent President Trump was unopposed.
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This page is based on the article 2020 Wisconsin elections published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
