Apr. 7th, 2020 10p
(WGTD/AP/WPR)---COVID-19-related court battles, like the kind that led up to Tuesday's election in Wisconsin, aren’t over.
The Associated Press reports that both political parties are preparing for a state-by-state legal battle over how Americans can vote during the coronavirus outbreak.
Democrats argue that states need to make voting easier and provide more opportunities to vote by mail. They say they’re ready to sue to force that. Republicans say Democrats just want to loosen rules to help them win elections.
In the middle is the voter. Jill Peterson, who voted Tuesday at the Moose Lodge in Kenosha, said she saw merit in both sides of the legal arguments that led up to the election. She was happy that for her the experience went as smoothly as it did. The line was short, poll workers wore protective gear, plastic partitions separated voters from the poll workers, and each voter received their own pen to mark the ballots.
Things weren’t so smooth elsewhere. In Milwaukee, where the number of polling places were consolidated because of a shortage of poll workers, two hour-long waits to vote weren’t uncommon. Other voters said the absentee ballots they had requested never arrived. Hundreds of absentee ballots that arrived without the signature of a witness are expected to be thrown out.
Under a federal court order, the results of the election won’t be released until next Monday.
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A steady statewide drop in the number of new coronavirus cases may not be as hopeful as it sounds, according to Jen Freiheit, director of the Kenosha County Health Dept.
In a telephone briefing to the county board and the community as a whole Tuesday night, Freiheit said testing issues are still a factor. "I caution that this is not an indication that the virus is on the decline," Freiheit said. "This is an indication that testing has gone down," she said.
For example, the drive-thru testing station at Froedtert South-Kenosha has gone from 70 tests a day to 30.
The bottleneck is a shortage of lab materials used to process tests, and a limited supply of collections kits. The shortages, she says, are expected to ease in two weeks.
In Kenosha County, COVID-19 patients are being treated at Aurora Hospital and at Froedtert South-Kenosha.
The county recently updated its coronavirus website to provide more demographic information on those who’ve tested positive for the virus.
She says a new state estimate shows the virus is expected to peak in Wisconsin between April 15th to May 1st.
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The Racine Fire Department responds to all kinds of emergencies. Now the ‘boots’ will be going out on a far different type of call.
Depending on availability, fire trucks will be dispatched to help kids who are home-bound by the coronavirus celebrate their birthdays.
The drive-by offer was made on the department’s Facebook page. There’s a number to call to request an appearance.
There are some limitations. For one thing, firefighters won’t be leaving their rigs, and proper social distancing must be observed by everyone at all times.
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Looking for something to do? In Kenosha, if you're charged with yard maintenance, it's now a bit easier to get a jump on the spring clean-up. The city has announced that it'll begin curbside pick-up of yard waste three weeks early, in part because the opening of the city's drop-off site has been delayed over pandemic concerns. The pick-ups will begin on Monday. The usual protocol will be in place, such as yard waste must be contained in city-approved biodegradable bags.
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