MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS)- For those who have yet to receive absentee ballots in the mail by April 7 the only choice left is to vote in person. That’s regardless of compromised immune systems, or illness. Illnesses such as COVID-19.
For Milwaukee’s Hannah Gleeson, both situations apply.
“I requested my absentee ballot last week before the deadline,” she says. “The deadline was Friday and I requested it before Friday and I still haven’t gotten it.”
Gleeson is on day 12 of having COVID 19. She says because she still does not have her absentee ballot, the Wisconsin Elections Commission says her only choice is to vote at the polls. She says it’s not a choice she’s willing to make.
“I work in healthcare, I’m 17 weeks pregnant, I already feel guilty about possibly infecting my husband and my unborn child and now I should go out into the community and possibly expose more to vote?” Gleeson says. “There is no reason why we couldn’t have voted on June 9.”
Wisconsin voters are being affected by scenarios like this in various ways. Milwaukee Political Consultant Sachin Chheda posted on Twitter about a COVID 19 voter, who needed a witness to sign her absentee ballot.
“There’s someone available who’s willing to witness the signing of the ballot through a glass window or door, the voter would bring the ballot onto the porch, the person who has had COVID already will pick up the ballot and put it in a plastic bag,” says Chheda. “We’re going to put a note on it so people counting the ballots know because we don’t know if this virus can live on paper.”
As of Tuesday, The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported more than one million absentee ballots have been requested in the state. A little more than half have been returned by voters.
“There’s one woman who’s out of town and her ballot came to her house and then her daughter mailed it to her, thinking she had until the 13th,” Chheda says. “There’s another voter, a military veteran who requested his ballot on March 22 and he hasn’t received it and he’s isolating with elderly family members and he’s not willing to risk their health by voting in person.”
It’s a disheartening situation for some Wisconsinites, who says their voices have been stifled.
“This is America,” says Gleeson. “One of the best things about us is our democracy and I feel like democracy has failed me today.”
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