A resident waits in line Tuesday to vote at a polling place at Riverside University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI — Amid the coronavirus public health emergency, thousands of voters in Wisconsin took to the polls Tuesday to vote in the state's presidential primary and statewide general election. Voters in Milwaukee waited in long lines to cast their ballots while also facing the challenge of maintaining at least 6 feet of distance from others.
"You've taken this group of people and forced them to make a choice between their health and their vote," Oak Creek City Clerk Catherine Roeske told Patch.
For municipal clerks across Wisconsin, election day was an exercise in compassion, efficiency and compliance. As people filed into the few voting centers that were open, volunteers and voters alike risked exposing themselves to the new coronavirus. National Guard members were deployed in plain clothes across the state, directing people into the correct lines and helping them navigate an unfamiliar voting center as the state shrank the number of polling places due to a critical shortage of poll workers.
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Voters masked against coronavirus line up Tuesday at Riverside High School for Wisconsin's primary election in Milwaukee. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)Voters masked against coronavirus line up Tuesday at Riverside High School for Wisconsin's primary election in Milwaukee. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)Jill Mickelson helps a drive-up voter outside the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building on March 30 in Milwaukee. The city allowed drive-up early voting for the state's April 7 election. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)Aimee Aironimi shows her support Tuesday for poll workers at a polling place at Riverside University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Residents waited in line to vote sometimes more than two hours at the school, one of the few polling places open in the city after most were consolidated due to a shortage of poll workers fearful of contracting COVID-19. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)An aerial view from a drone shows voters waiting in line Tuesday to enter a polling place at Riverside University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Voters waited in line about two hours at the school, one of the few polling places open in the city after most were consolidated due to a shortage of poll workers fearful of contracting COVID-19. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)Residents vote Tuesday from their vehicles at a drive-up polling place set up outside of Roosevelt Elementary School in Racine, Wisconsin. The polling place was set up to offer drive-up voting where residents voted from their vehicles but it offered one outdoor voting booth for residents who walked to the polling place. The extreme measures were put in place to make the process safer for residents and election officials as the state continues its shelter-in-place order to help curtail the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Find out what's happening in Mount Pleasant-Sturtevantfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
