What the hell, Wisconsin!

Wisconsin is going to run a primary election on April 7, even though every other state scheduled to hold one this month has put them off because of the coronavirus outbreak. The main reason seems to be that the GOP is hoping lower turnout due to the coronavirus and a concomitant lack of poll-workers (meaning fewer polling places) will work to the advantage of their incumbent Supreme Court candidate. The federal judge who heard the case cited US Supreme Court precedents that kept him from changing the election date, but he did extend the deadline for requesting absentee ballots from today until tomorrow, ordered that any ballots received by April 13 should be counted, and ruled that voters do not need to get a witness signature on their ballot envelops if they write that they tried and were unsuccessful. But an important part of his decision was that he openly invited a post-election suit claiming voters were denied their right to vote because of the lack of polling places (I've read that Milwaukee will be able to staff only 12, rather than the usual 180). 

This isn't over, I guess. The Republicans are suing to overturn the part of his orders affecting absentee ballots. And some think the Evers might act at the last minute to postpone this vote until the scheduled May partisan primaries. If he does that there likely won't be time for the GOP to go to court and force the election to go forward. The whole thing is a mess, and far from the reputation for partisan comity that Wisconsin once enjoyed. Now it's kind of a mess., ever since the state's GOP became the stepchild of the Heartland Institute and Koch Bros. It's a shame. Wisconsin used to be such a nice state.