After numerous shifts and changes over the last few days, voters went to the polls today in Wisconsin’s Spring Elections putting their lives at risk in order to participate. In response, HRC President Alphonso David issued the following statement: 

“Voting is one of the most sacred duties and rights we have as citizens. Yet, voters in Wisconsin were forced to choose between their health and safety and their constitutional right to vote because of a partisan ploy by Wisconsin and national Republicans. 

“Results will prove that marginalized communities, such as black and transgender voters, bore the brunt of the limited access to the ballot.  These results are directly contrary to rulings that the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court effectively mandated upon the state. Across Wisconsin, voting locations were closed leaving major urban counties like Milwaukee with only a handful of locations for hundreds of thousands of voters. At least 10,000 voters requested their absentee ballots in a timely fashion but did not receive them - forcing them to put their lives at risk to wait in hours-long lines to participate. 

“President Trump and his anti-equality allies recently announced a $10 million voter suppression campaign, the first of its kind in at least the last 40 years, to make it harder than ever before for people to vote.  As if that isn’t bad enough, they are now taking advantage of this pandemic to keep voters from having their say. 

“Our leaders should aim to expand access to the ballot, not limit it. In the coming months, states should adopt and implement plans for vote-by-mail and other measures to ensure safe access to voting for all.  Nothing less than our democracy is at stake.”