On April 7, 2020, Wisconsin held its spring elections for State Supreme Court, local government offices and the U.S. Presidential Preference Primary. Under the threat of coronavirus contagion, thousands of Wisconsinites left their homes and waited in long lines with their fellow voters, by necessity often closer than six feet apart. A shortage of poll workers — many of whom quit rather than risk viral exposure — led to a number of polling places shutting down. Under those conditions, one would expect that turnout would suffer, but, in fact, overall turnout came in at 34%, not bad for a spring primary, and comparable to the turnout in 2008. What did change, however, was HOW people voted. For the first time ever in the state, the vast majority of voters, 71% voted with an absentee or mail-in ballot. With the coronavirus crisis likely to continue through the fall, many are asking why don’t we all vote by mail this November? Why, indeed. Steven Mulroy, Professor of Law at the University of Memphis joined the Buzz on May 4th, 2020.
