Wisconsin governor calls for primary delay, mail-in election

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that he wants to postpone his state’s upcoming primary election, which is currently scheduled for Tuesday. He called the state legislature into a special Saturday session to figure out a way to avoid in-person voting due to continued fallout over the spread of the novel coronavirus.

His goal is to facilitate an election conducted entirely by mail-in ballots, which must be returned by May 26.

Delaying the election is a reversal of the governor’s initial position. He had previously requested that the state send mail-in ballots to all voters instead of just those who had requested one. The Republican-led legislature rejected the request.