(MADISON, WI) — On a press call today, Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez and Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler discussed pending results from the April 7 election in which thousands of Wisconsinites were forced to vote in-person in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
They discussed internal polling on the effect of coronavirus on voting attitudes, previewed legal strategies in response to the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin voters, and urged a vote-by-mail solution to the upcoming May 12 special election in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District.
Chairs Perez and Wikler also called out Donald Trump and his conservative allies for forcing Wisconsinites to choose between exercising their democratic rights and risking their lives by going to the polls to vote.
You can listen to the press call here and excerpts of what Chairman Perez and Wikler said below.
Quote from Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez: “This was voter suppression on steroids… Let’s have the battle of ideas…and then let’s ensure that every eligible person can exercise their sacred right to vote this May in Wisconsin, this November across the country….Our resolve to make sure that people can vote in Wisconsin and across this country is unshakable. We will use courts of law; we will use courts of public opinion; we will work with Democrats, Republicans, independents across the country because seeking to vote, and vote in a safe manner, is not an issue of right versus left, it’s an issue of right versus wrong.”
Quote from Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler: “Republicans tried to steal Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election by weaponizing a deadly pandemic, because they believed that coronavirus would disproportionately suppress the votes of Democrats, and especially African Americans. We will find out tonight whether the Republican effort to steal the election succeeded, but we already know Wisconsin lost. The choices of Robin Vos, Scott Fitzgerald, every Republican state legislators, conservative justices, and Trump’s team at the Republican National Committee exposed Wisconsin to mortal danger in an attempt to hold on to power.”
