Wisconsin governor's order to delay state elections, primaries expected to face immediate challenge by state's Supreme Court

(Image credit: Dylan Buell/Getty Images for VIBE)

published 6 April 2020

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D), after much delay, wound up issuing an executive order Monday to delay in-person voting for two months for the state's presidential primaries and other local elections scheduled for Tuesday. But the decision doesn't really bring much clarity to the situation.

Evers had held off on delaying the primaries and elections, even as other states postponed their own during the novel COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, because he agreed with Republicans that elections for local offices with terms set to begin soon needed to proceed. He changed his mind because of health safety concerns, but the new problem is that he doesn't actually have unchecked authority to issue such an order.

Per The Associated Press, the decision to delay the primaries is expected to face an immediate challenge to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Conservative justices hold a 5-2 edge. One of them is on the election ballot and is not participating in related decisions, so that's narrowed to 4-2 in this case. But if the court does block the order, it could put the elections in jeopardy and prevent a large amount of people from voting. Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach said Republicans are hoping to suppress voter turnout, especially in Milwaukee, because they want to make sure the conservative justice up for re-election, Dan Kelly, secures a second 10-year term. Read more at The Associated Press.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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