BREAKING: WI Republicans force people to vote in person today despite COVID-19 pandemic to suppress the vote.
John,
Voting shouldn't be a matter of life and death.
But that's what Republicans are forcing us to decide between today in Wisconsin – they're using the coronavirus crisis to suppress votes. I'm livid.
My only option in Milwaukee is in-person voting at one of FIVE polling locations (down from the 180 locations we usually have). Lines are STILL wrapped around the block.
It's Black people in neighborhoods like mine in north Milwaukee who are already hit the hardest – by COVID-19 and by voter suppression. In Milwaukee county, 26% of us are Black, but 81% of coronavirus deaths are from the Black community. And they want more of us to be put in harm's way, by making us vote in person today.
We can't let them get away with this. We can't let this kind of voter suppression become our new normal.
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SEIU, on behalf of workers like us, sued to move the election back to protect our health and safety, but the Republican party opposed the lawsuit and last night the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the election move forward as scheduled today.
I am stunned, but not surprised.
What's happening today is a result of systematic voter suppression by the Republican party aimed to take away the votes of Black people and other people of color in Wisconsin.
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After the Governor ordered the election be delayed until June, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled him and said that the election will continue as planned, despite the pandemic.
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Poll workers throughout the state, but especially in Milwaukee, have been staying home and the Governor had to call in the National Guard to staff polling locations. Even with that, Milwaukee closed 175 polling places, leaving only 5 open, putting Milwaukee residents in harm's way, and suppressing the vote in communities of color.
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The Trump-appointed justices in the U.S. Supreme Court and other conservative justices issued a decision that killed an attempt to extend the deadline for mail-in ballots to be received. Because of this decision, absentee ballots postmarked after today won't count, even though thousands haven't even received their absentee ballots yet. This will disenfranchise thousands of voters.
The decision to continue today's election should be criminal.
President Trump has already admitted that keeping people from the polls is how Republican politicians win. This primary cannot be a preview of November.
Help me expose Republican voter suppression in Wisconsin by sharing on Facebook!
Jennifer Berry
McDonald's worker
Milwaukee, WI
Fight for $15
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