Wisconsin April 7 Election Back On After Court Overrules Governor
MILWAUKEE, WI — The April 7 presidential primary and statewide election in Wisconsin is back on, after the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned an executive order made by Gov. Tony Evers who sought to postpone the election until June 9 over coronavirus public health concerns.
Earlier on Monday, less than 24 hours before in-person voting was set to begin, Evers signed an executive order suspending in-person voting until June. According to the executive order, he suspended Tuesday's in-person election vote until June 9, "unless the Legislature passes and the Governor approves a different date for in-person voting."
The order never made it that far.
Republican legislators filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court hours after the order was made public, arguing that Evers' order was unconstitutional. "We are immediately challenging this executive order in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a joint statement with state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald. “The clerks of this state should stand ready to proceed with the election. The governor’s executive order is clearly an unconstitutional overreach."
The court, whose political balance leans 5-2 in favor of conservative justices, ruled 4-2 that the April 7 election must go on. Justice Daniel Kelly, who is on the April ballot, recused himself from this case.
Vos continued on the news of Monday's announcement.
“This is another last minute flip-flop from the governor on the April 7th election. The governor himself has repeatedly acknowledged he can’t move the election. Just last week, a federal judge said he did not have the power to cancel the election, and Governor Evers doesn’t either. Governor Evers can’t unilaterally run the state.”
The move came just days after Evers said moving the election was a legal impossibility. "I can't move this election or change it on my own. My hands are tied. I even publicly called [the legislature] to act. They are publicly unwilling to change." Evers said Friday in a conference call with reporters.
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Yet on Monday, Evers said moving the election was within his sole power during a conference call with reporters on Monday afternoon.
"Certainly the circumstances have changed," Evers said when a reporter asked whether this order was against the law. Evers cited the number of increased COVID-19 cases in the state, and the dramatic decrease in the number of polling places that would have been open on April 7 as information that factored into his decision. Evers said he believed this order was in his authority to make on Monday.
Absentee Ballots Back To Original Deadline
Voters with absentee ballots will have to turn them in or have them postmarked by Tuesday to have them counted after a late ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday night.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a consequential ruling for Wisconsin voters late Monday, overturning a lower court's ruling that extended Wisconsin's absentee ballot submissions by nearly a week.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William M. Conley of the U.S. District Court - Western District of Wisconsin extended the deadline for absentee ballots to be received by election officials from 8 p.m. on election night to 4 p.m. on April 13. The move would have given poll workers more time to tally votes.
On Monday night, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Conley's ruling, voting along 5-4 lines to restore Wisconsin's former absentee ballot deadline. That means poll workers cannot accept absentee ballots that are postmarked after election day.
This article originally appeared on the Milwaukee Patch
