In Wisconsin, Republicans are more afraid of losing elections than they are of COVID-19

WASHINGTON-Remember the U.S. presidential primaries? It seems like a different era, those weeks ago when states were voting to determine the Democratic nominees in November's election - a memory fading as those contests are on hold while the nation wrestles with the coronavirus pandemic.

It was Throwback Tuesday in Wisconsin - or an attempt at it, as the state held its Democratic primary, some local elections, and a vote for a seat on the top court - after a last-minute postponement attempt by the governor was overturned by the state's supreme court. But if the idea was that some semblance of democracy-as-usual was possible, it was quickly dispelled by reality.

Thanks to provisions that allow mail-in votes postmarked by Tuesday to be counted until April 13, the results of the voting won't be known until next week, but it was obvious right away that asking voters to choose between endangering their lives or giving up their democratic rights was madness.

"Good morning and welcome to the Sh** Show," Wisconsin's Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes tweeted out Tuesday morning - spelling out the expletive - as the problems were already becoming clear.

Thousands of poll workers refused to show up in fear of COVID-19, vastly reducing the number of voting locations available. Milwaukee, the biggest city in the state, usually has 180 polling stations but had only five on Tuesday. Green Bay normally has 31 stations but only opened two.

That meant lines of social-distancing voters - many wearing masks and gloves - stretched around corners and down blocks shortly after polls opened. Wait times at some locations in Milwaukee were more than two hours. Hundreds of mail-in ballots arrived without witness signatures (as a result of an overturned decision that sought to allow witness-free votes) and would not be counted. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported social media messages were spreading the false information that ballots could be obtained by email - a rumour circulated mistakenly even by a senior state Democratic party member. A photo on that newspaper's website showed a voter in line holding a sign putting it plainly: "This is ridiculous."

Many in this country seem to need constant demonstrations to understand that things cannot reasonably get back to normal amid the still-worsening pandemic. Wisconsin was just another example.

For many the abnormal circumstances - and the tens of thousands of voters who would stay away - were no surprise. They say using fear of COVID-19 to lower voter turnout was exactly the point.

"I'm kind of disappointed that our representatives are trying to suppress our vote by having the vote during a pandemic. It doesn't make sense," Michael Claus, a 66-year-old African-American voter told a Journal-Sentinel videographer in a polling place lineup. "People died for my right to vote, so if I have to take a risk to vote that's what I have to do."

The primary itself is almost an afterthought. Donald Trump is essentially running unopposed, and Joe Biden has the Democratic nomination virtually sewn up. But Wisconsin also holds elections for other positions at the same time. The thinking is that Republicans - aiming to hold onto a conservative advantage on the state supreme court, among other offices - benefit from a reduced turnout. So they sued, successfully, to force the election to proceed over the objections of the Democratic party and Gov. Tony Evers.

The recent track record of Wisconsin Republicans doesn't give them the benefit of the doubt against suspicions of putting partisanship over democracy. In recent years they used their legislative majority to severely gerrymander the state's electoral districts to entrench a Republican advantage and then, when Evers was elected to replace a Republican governor, stripped the office of many of its powers before he was sworn in.

Evers favoured universal voting by mail with extended deadlines; Republicans strongly opposed it. Trump made the partisan divide over such expanded voting access explicit when he recently said such measures proposed federally by Congress lead to "levels of voting that if you'd ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again." That's why many think what's playing out in Wisconsin could be a preview of presidential election battles if the COVID crisis persists into November.

Whether that calculation about the effect of depressed turnout is correct or not, the push to go forward with in-person voting as scheduled prevailed, with the results that Wisconsin voters who did not already have a mail-in ballot in hand Tuesday had to choose between risking their lives - and the lives of their fellow citizens - or being disenfranchised. At a stroke, public health was jeopardized while the election was delegitimized.

It's a decision that seems to show a cavalier disregard either for public health or for democracy. Or, quite possibly, for both.

Edward Keenan is the Star's Washington Bureau chief. He covers U.S. politics and current affairs. Reach him via email: ekeenan@thestar.ca