Both Political Parties Dive Into Results of Last Tuesday's Elections
Friday, April 17th, 2020 -- 9:29 AM
(AP) -Democrats overcame legal confusion, safety concerns and presidential influence to pull off a win in Wisconsin this week, and both parties are mining the results for lessons on how to mobilize voters during a pandemic.Amid widespread allegations that Republicans were seeking to suppress votes by forging ahead with a chaotic election, statewide turnout for the Supreme Court election and presidential primary was a strong 1.5 million, the second-highest turnout for a Supreme Court election in 20 years. That was no doubt helped by a stunning jump in mail-in voting, from 12% of votes cast last year to 72%, that allowed many voters to exercise their right to vote without risking exposure to the coronavirus at polling places. Even a drastic reduction in the number of open polling places didn’t appear to tank voter turnout.
In Milwaukee, where just five of the usual 180 polling places were opened, turnout was 32%, barely trailing the statewide figure. The numbers no doubt surprised Democrats, who were braced to see liberal judge Jill Karofsky lose to incumbent conservative Dan Kelly after the GOP-led Legislature and conservative courts reject their appeals to delay the election. Photos of masked voters waiting in long lines at polling places became fast symbols of a newly partisan fight over voting rights.
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