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US State Calls Off Tuesday Election in Face of Coronavirus Emergency

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - The governor of theMidwestern U.S. state of Wisconsinon
   Monday called offTuesday'sDemocratic presidential primaryelection in
   the face ofa rising tide of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths in
   the state.

   Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat,issued an executive orderpostponing the
   electionuntil June 9. He actedinresponse towidespread demandsthat
   heunilaterallypostpone the voting when hewasunable to agree with the
   Republican-controlled statelegislature ona plan for moving the vote to
   a later date andtheterms of the balloting, such as whether to allow
   mail-in voting.

   More than a dozen U.S. states have postponed Democratic presidential
   primaries in April and May between former Vice President Joe Biden and
   Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders until weeks from now in hopesthatby then
   the effects of the virus will have dissipated enough to allow voters to
   show up at polling places to cast ballotswithout endangering their
   health.

   But Wisconsin was the last holdout refusing to postpone its vote until
   Evers acted.

   Everssaid that if state Republican lawmakers object to the
   postponement,thedispute could still endupbefore the state supreme court
   later in the day.

   Evers had previously said he alone could not unilaterally push back the
   date of the election and needed legislative approval. Key state
   Republican lawmakers called Evers's action "an unconstitutional
   overreach" and vowedto try to get the state supreme court to let the
   election go ahead as planned.

   But Evers told theMilwaukee Journal Sentinelnewspaper, "The bottom line
   is the people of Wisconsin, they don't care about the fighting between
   Democrats and Republicans -- they're scared. I'm standing up for those
   people who are afraid and that's why I'm doing this."

   More than 2,200 confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported in
   Wisconsin and 73 deaths.

   If the electionwere held,hundreds of polling places throughout the
   statewould notbe open forlackof Election Day workers.Workers by the
   drovescanceled their promise to work at the polls checking in voters
   from registration lists.

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