Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Magazine Shatters Thought Control on COVID 19 Lab Leak Hypothesis

Update: See also The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins, and Origins of SARS-CoV-2, (Jaime Metzl).

In 2020 to suggest that Wuhan Lab Leak hypothesis should be investigated and interrogated was considered heresy in elite circles. This was non-permissible thought, a forbidden topic, hence a media blackout.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists  — the venerable journal that has long criticized government duplicity on major safety concerns  — has published major features in 2020-2021 that, in sum, reveal research scientists and U.S. and Chinese public health officials conducting themselves akin to dishonest politicians on the topic of the origin of COVID 19.

The COIVD 19 origin conversation has appeared often an exercise in thought control and propaganda, a situation made worse by the presence of a lunatic in the White House throughout 2019- Jan 2021. 

On the one hand, there was a prominent research community promoting disingenuous statements on the lab leak hypothesis that were marked by misleading characterizations, deceptions, omissions and a failure to declare conflicts of interest by statement authors and organizers; on the other hand — the lunatic.

To disagree with the consensus is to engage in "conspiracy" talk, an elite research community assures us in well-publicized statements in The Lancet (Feb 2020) and Nature (March 2020).

A May 5, 2021 Bulletin feature, The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan? by Nicholas Wade, suggests looking closer and considering the evidence, without apology to the moment's consensus. Wade's piece has reignited journalism on the origin topic.

Writes Wade:

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives the world over for more than a year. Its death toll will soon reach three million people. Yet the origin of pandemic remains uncertain: The political agendas of governments and scientists have generated thick clouds of obfuscation, which the mainstream press seems helpless to dispel.

In what follows I will sort through the available scientific facts, which hold many clues as to what happened, and provide readers with the evidence to make their own judgments. I will then try to assess the complex issue of blame, which starts with, but extends far beyond, the government of China.

Wade has written a brilliant analysis and it is crucial reading for those demanding transparency and candor from their governments during this unprecedented crisis.

Gov Tony Evers Can Issue New Emergency COVID-19 Order Now: Here's How

B.1.1.7 Mutation Should Be "Treated as a Separate Epidemic," Say Experts as Wisc Court Says All COVID-19 Viruses Are the Same

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Gov Tony Evers needs to declare a new state of emergency; use the academic resources our state has cultivated to draft justification for the new threat in the specific form of the B.1.1.7 variant [aka U.K. variant, British variant or Kent variant].

This should be done soon in such a formulation that to disagree with the executive action is to disagree with evolution and the scientific community, and the Wisconsin University System in which the population retains pride and support.

On March 31, four rightist Supreme Court of Wisconsin justices issued a sweeping decision, blocking Gov Evers' executive orders declaring an emergency and mandating masks in many circumstances (Jeré Fabick v. Tony Evers 2020AP001718-OA Case History); (Opinions, Decision text); (Executive Order #105, February 4, 2021).

The case is Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers (Case No.:2020AP001718). 

 

The four-to-three decision was issued with a biting dissent authored by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

Evers can still declare a new state of emergency, but such a new executive order must be predicated on what the justices regard as new enabling conditions, the four Republican justices held, inventing a new reading of the power of the Wisconsin governor.

 

Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers is what happens when rightest judges crawl under ideology; deny implications of evolution and declare uninformed views on virology and epidemiology to be judicial policy, in corrupt service to the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Still, the COVID-19 variants' genetics have changed so radically and rapidly, and behave so differently (and destructively) that these mutated biological agents incontrovertibly constitute a new underlying cause and enabling condition for a new executive order declaring a state of emergency.

Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers

People will die because of the Jeré Fabick v.Tony Evers holding that is, essentially, just another Republican power grab. Outside of Republicans, few believe the majority's opinion is anything beyond what the dissenting opinion describes as:

"[J]udicial immodesty, [that] goes beyond the relief requested and declares Executive Order #105 [Relating to Declaring a State of Emergency and Public Health Emergency​​​​​​] unlawful with scant analysis and without candid justification," (p. 2. Dissent, Walsh Bradley)

The seven justices agree on the authority of the governor to declare a public health emergency and issue emergency orders. 

 

Further, the Court agrees that COVID-19 as a new Coronavirus meets the statutory criteria as a public health emergency.

Beyond a profound disagreement on standing, a primary disagreement concerns the governor's power to declare subsequent multiple states of emergency for what the Republican-supported majority assert is the same "basis," the same "enabling condition," and underlying cause.

The dissent notes two relevant state statutes — Wis. Stat. §323.02(16) and 323.10 — relate to occurrences or imminent threat of public health emergencies, an argument the Republican refuse to engage, beyond a dismissive paragraph.

Gov Evers had declared four separate states of emergencies after the State Health department reported the threat of the Coronavirus and new data indicating spikes in cases and the imminent threat of increased community spread.

The state's case was briefed and argued by the Wisconsin Dept of Justice, brief filed by Hannah S. Jurss, assistant attorney general, and Joshua L. Kaul, Wisconsin attorney general. There was an oral argument by Hannah S. Jurss.

"[Plaintiff] Fabick, a single Wisconsin resident, filed suit as a taxpayer [after the third declaration of a State of Emergency and Public Health Emergency]. He brought his suit as an original action before this court, arguing that the Governor lacks the statutory authority to declare successive states of emergency 'arising from the same public health emergency,'" notes Justice Walsh Bradley (p. 4, dissent).

Gov Evers Can Declare New COVID State of Emergency

The most recent declaration of emergency is Executive Order #105 (Feb), struck down by the Court for relying on the same enabling conditions as past COVID-related declared emergencies.

Though Executive Order #105 mentions the B.1.1.7 variant — [aka U.K. variant, British variant or Kent variant], a COVID-19 virus with many gene mutations — as part of the reasoning for the Feb 2021 declared state of emergency, micro-biologists and epidemiologists note the B.1.1.7-U.K.variant is now dominant in the United States, and in Wisconsin, as noted by the Wisconsin Dept of Health Services, after first appearing here in Jan 2021.

The CDC director on April 12 called for Michigan to "to enact shutdown measures in response to its worst-in-the-nation surge of coronavirus infections," reports the NYT.

Writes Sanjay Mishra: "The coronavirus variant known as B.1.1.7, which studies show is both more deadly and more transmissible than the original version of SARS-CoV-2, is now the most common strain circulating in United States, and its growing prevalence has alarmed prominent epidemiologists (National Geographic).

Mishra continues:

Earlier in the pandemic, not many children were becoming infected with the coronavirus, and they did not appear to be major sources of virus transmission to other age groups. 'That changed with B.1.1.7' says epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. 'We're now seeing substantial numbers of outbreaks in schools and in school-related activities.'

Further, Mishra writes, outbreaks among children in Wisconsin and Minnesota now have experts convinced that this mutated form of the virus presents a new threat in its capacity to infect children, and its capacity to successfully bind to human cells.

A rapidly growing outbreak of COVID-19 in Carver County, Minnesota, has been linked to school-sponsored and club sports activities. In a study done by the Minnesota Department of Health, researchers produced a detailed map of COVID-19 transmission showing that the B.1.1.7 variant caused about a quarter of these cases.

A similar outbreak was reported in Wisconsin, where all the children at a Dane County childcare center who tested positive were 6 years or younger.Now, a growing number of experts want the B.1.1.7 variant treated as a new virus because of its genetically enhanced tendency to attach to human proteins.

Researchers believe the variant spreads so rapidly because B.1.1.7 accumulated a large number of genetic changes—17 in total—including eight in the virus’s hallmark spike protein. The spike protein attaches to the ACE2 receptor protein, which is found on the outer wall of 72 types of human cells. After the virus latches onto the ACE2 receptor, it can enter the host cell, make more copies of itself, and trigger infection.

By binding more tightly to the ACE2 receptors, 'these mutations provide selective advantage to B.1.1.7, so that's why now it is spreading everywhere' says Olivier Schwartz, head of the Virus and Immunity Unit of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. 'It's a kind of a Darwinian selection process.' ...

Some researchers believe that B.1.1.7 behaves so differently from the original strain that it can even be 'treated as a separate epidemic,' says Ravindra Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge.

B.1.1.7 also been causing problems in other ways. It carries a couple of genetic mutations in the spike protein called deletions, because they eliminate part of the genetic code, that help this variant escape antibodies during the body’s immune response after an infection.

So, why do Wisconsin Republican judicial policymakers and legislators want the COVID-19 virus treated the same as the radically different mutated strains?

Wisconsin Republicans need to recognize the fact of evolution and help the citizens of the state do everything in their power to slow this progression of the virus, its mutated strains and ensure the governor is not blocked by a corrupt Supreme Court and a corrupt state legislature.

Tony Evers and the Dept of Justice should be using Wisconsin's prominent research and academic resources, cultivated for over a century.  

Wisconsin has the great public research institution, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, home of pioneering public health and Zoonotic disease research. 

UW-Madison has 100s of research scientists and academics, evolutionary biologists, the Dept of Geoscience, the Genetics dept, the J.F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution; you get the picture.

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice needs to be prepared to argue the consensus of the scientific community at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Yes, this new strain should be treated as a new basis for a public health emergency and here's why.

What Gov Evers and Attorney General Kaul need to do is make the legal fight against COVID-19 variants a community fight, a citizen fight enlisting young Genetics and Geoscience students and academics, for example, and make outrageous decisions against our citizenry by corrupt justices come with unacceptable political costs.

In other words, if Republicans want to be on the side of the viruses, and kill our families, they pay the costs.

Starving children is fine with Republicans, as we know by Fabick which would have killed $50 million in funding to help provide food security, without desperate U.S. and Wisconsin negotiations to save the funds.

Basing more opposition to a new state of emergency on the proposition that evolution-in-action does not make genetically mutated strains a new virus, and a threat constituting a new emergency is crazy, and is jurisprudence that can be easily overturned.

Evolution is a fact. The scientific community knows more COVID-19 variants are coming. So does the Biden administration.

Biden's American Rescue Plan signed into law in March provides critical funding "to dramatically increase our country’s sequencing, surveillance, and outbreak analytics capacity at the levels demanded by the crisis," in a nod to virus mutations and evolution, both processes as real and predictable as the misery and devastation already inflicted (White House).

Following a call from Gov Evers and Attorney General Kaul, Wisconsin needs a brilliant project manager with vast interdisciplinary knowledge who can establish that genetically altered viruses are the emergency threat this Pandemic has wrought.

Guess what? In Wisconsin there are 1,000s of such people.

Madison, Wisconsin Turnout Rises Past 50 Percent — State Casualty Numbers Expected in Weeks

Wisconsin elections thrust on the people in the middle
of a deadly pandemic may have solved the Milwaukee
turnout problem for a generation. Republicans
don't care how people die as a result of their reckless acts.
Photo: Patricia McKnight of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Update: "It was just absurd," Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said, referring to the April 7 elections Republicans imposed upon an outraged Wisconsin public. "I mean, first of all, why would you think it's appropriate to hold an election when you have to dress that way as a poll worker? But two, the haves and the have-nots. I guess, if you're the speaker (dressed in personal protective equipment), [Rep Robin Vos (R-Rochester, Wisconsin)] that's what you get. If you're everyone else, you get what you get."(WKOW-TV, (Madison))

Madison, Wisconsin — The Madison city clerk reports turnout surpassed 50 percent at 4:00 Wednesday morning.

That figure is expected to climb.

Considering the risk and massive voter suppression work of the Republicans Party at multiple levels and branches of government, 50-some percent is a miracle.

Local officials expressed outrage at state leaders for not postponing the dangerous elections.

An election casualty list is not expected until two weeks.

Unofficial @CityofMadison turnout numbers (with additional absentees pending until 4/13): 87,552 ballots. 50.3%

Absentees counted today: 61,279

April 2016 turnout: 66%#MadisonVotes2020 #MadisonWI

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) April 8, 2020

Outrage at Republicans who thrust Wisconsin citizens into the coronavirus COVID 19 storm may have created a "Vos effect," a determination to vote against Republicans.

Rep Robin Vos (R-Rochester, Wisconsin) is the Speaker of the gerrymandered state assembly who successfully worked to kill efforts to postpone the April 7 elections.

Wisconsin Goes to Polls amid Pandemic; 'Lives at Risk for No Reason,' Says Dane County Clerk

Gov Evers Admin Refuses Stay-at-Home Order to Halt Elections

Long and dangerous lines of people at
Marshall High School in Milwaukee.
Photo: Kristen Clarke

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin is conducting its presidential primary and other elections today to outrage across the state in the middle of a deadly public health crisis, (Schmidt, Vetterkind, Wisconsin State Journal).

Public health professionals, local officials and the public are in a word, incensed.

"Health officials have said in-person voting presents a large risk to public health and creates a situation where the virus will spread."

Across Wisconsin, more than 2,400 cases of coronavirus have been reported as of Monday, with 1,300 in Milwaukee County alone," writes Molly Beck in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Just heard from voter who just voted at Hamilton in Milwaukee that the wait was 1 hour and 40 minutes to vote https://t.co/55K8WbpAnc

— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) April 7, 2020

Wisconsin Republicans have maneuvered in the Republican-controlled, state and federal courts and the legislature to move the elections forward, no matter the costs.

What a disgrace. Requiring that your residents compromise their health or forego what they see as the most significant act of civic participation available to them is deranged. https://t.co/PkEriZd5R8

— Berny Belvedere (@bernybelvedere) April 7, 2020

Gerrymandering has resulted in a Republican Party so malicious towards the public, the Party is unrecognizable from its predecessors 20 years ago.

In the 2016 Wisconsin presidential primary, 2,976,150 voters cast their ballots.

Fearing for their lives today, many voters will stay home, and will depress turnout numbers far-below 2016.

Absentee ballots have been requested in record numbers, but 1,282,762 absentee applications will see likely 10,000s of ballots never counted, due to staff shortages and poor voter education during the crisis.

The state that pioneered public health systems and zoonotic (virus creation and animal-to human) research 60 years now sees academic and medical professionals' work dismissed.

Protestors driving in cars gathered at the City-County building driving around the block early this morning as a rebuke to legislative Republicans and Gov. Tony Evers (D).

Evers has contorted himself in his evolving positions on halting the elections the last week.

First, Evers claimed there is nothing he can do; then he issued an 11th-hour executive order banning elections, and finally refused a stay-at-home order to halt perhaps the most reckless gamble in this state's history.

In late April, as deaths and infections continue across the state, Wisconsin is likely to pay for Republican malice and the criminal weakness of its Democratic governor.

Republican judges on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are credibly refred to as killers.

This is Wisconsin today.

What Republicans and Gov Evers have accomplished today is unforgivable.

In Milwaukee, amid a #CoronavirusPandemic, only 5 of 180 polling places are open for today.

In Waukesha, only 1 polling place is open.

The lines are already overwhelming.

Wear safety gear. Bring your own ✏️.

Protect yourself. Protect democracy.pic.twitter.com/S0DnbMGMmO

— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) April 7, 2020

Hello from Madison, Wisconsin. It's Election Day. pic.twitter.com/U7X7AmPzTm

— Shawn Johnson (@SJohnsonWPR) April 7, 2020

From Alex Larson and Amy Thomas in Milwaukee, (Facebook)

An update from the front lines in Milwaukee from my friend Alex Larson: These shots below and right were just shared to a neighborhood group I am in. This is my polling place today at Riverside High School. Polls open at 7 and there’s already huge lines. So now I’m a disenfranchised voter, because no way am I going out there with this much potential exposure, IN A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.

Not only that, but as someone with cerebral palsy, standing on my feet for that long

just isn’t feasible. This wouldn’t have occurred if the election had been delayed and we could have the 180 polling places in Milwaukee like we normally do. Now we just have five! My other option is to drop off my absentee ballot at city hall. The ride there, the ride back, and getting a witness means I’m exposed to 3 people, at the very least. Again, this is IN A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.

Watch for the surge in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks. It’s going to occur. Any flattening of the curve, which Wisconsin was doing a great job of, is going to go out the window. The inaction of our Governor and the complete disregard for health and safety by the Republican Party are responsible for this, and any deaths that come as a result. This is fucking outrageous.

Sign of the Times — Wisconsin's Bucky Badger in Mask over Nose and Mouth

A van delivering lifesaving oxygen
supplies displays Bucky Badger
wearing a cloth face-covering over
his nose and mouth this weekend.
Photo: Michael Leon

Madison, Wisconsin — Coronavirus COVID 19 is rampaging the human world, (CDC, World Health Organization, Madison, Wisconsin-Dane County Public Health).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just issued a recommendation for use of cloth face coverings, "especially in areas of significant community-based transmission."
 
At a delivery here of an oxygen concentrator — that takes oxygen from room air, and filters this vital gas to people for respiration — a local medical supply business manages to be both lifesaving and funny.

On the sides of a UW Health Home Medical Equipment and Supplies (Chartwell Midwest Wisconsin) van is the iconic Bucky Badger.

This truck (above-right, and below) features Bucky wearing a yellow cloth mask to display solidarity with public health and active measures by fellow citizens keeping us all safe.

A van delivering lifesaving oxygen supplies displays
Bucky Badger wearing a cloth face-covering over his
nose and mouth this weekend.
Photo: Michael Leon

Local Reporting of Coronavirus Crisis Thrives — Wisconsin State Journal Shines in Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin — Not the creativity of bio-catastrophe writers, Richard Preston, Daniel Kalla and Robin Cook, can dream-up the economic, psychological and sociological consequences of the new coronavirus hitting the world, (CDC, World Health Organization, Madison, Wisconsin, Dane County Public Health).

Humanity is fighting back against this biological entity, the virus, COVID 19.

The medical community, restaurants, and bio-research communities are shining as white knights. So, are workers at grocery and liquor stores.

But it is a seemingly imperiled institution that has improbably seen a reemergence here during this public safety crisis — local journalism.

Local journalism isn't dead, though it perhaps looked that way not too long ago.

Since the coronavirus COVID 19 crisis unfolded mere weeks ago, this phenomenon has spurned a rebirth of local journalism.

The Wisconsin State Journal daily in Madison is leading the way, and its sister journal, The Capital Times, is also surging.

Public relations consultants around theses parts pitching stories are finding a common response — ' we just ran a piece on that.'

From coverage of innovation and persistence of local restaurants to the shockingly corrupt action of Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers refusing to halt elections in the middle of an unprecedented public health emergency, local journalism is alive and well.

One hopes it lives forever.
---
Also, Richard Preston, Daniel Kalla and Robin Cook have new books out.

Staying-at-Home for Peace and Health — a Song Sums-up How Many Feel, We Gotta Get Out of This Place

Madison, Wisconsin —We're borrowing the anthem of Vietnam War veterans today: 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place,' (written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and recorded by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965).

Great book of the same title, if you have not read it: We Gotta Get Out of This Place - The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War (Bradley, Werner. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015).

Enjoy:

Dane County, Wisconsin County Clerk Wants April 7 Elections Delayed for Safety and Fair Vote

Madison, Wisconsin — The Dane County, (Wisconsin) County Clerk is calling on Gov Tony Evers (D) to halt Wisconsin's April 7 elections.

Scott McDonell has been reportedly been hearing complaints from Dane County citizens and public officials, former public official, and evaluating public health data on the transmission of coronavirus COIVD 19 from public health professionals, (Public Health, Madison and Dane County).

McDonnell wrote last night on Facebook:

I am convinced this election can not be run in a fair and safe manner on April 7. I have asked the County Board to authorize an amicus brief asking for a delay of the April 7 election.

The safety risk of voters and election workers is too great to risk. The chance of errors due to confusion, crowding and over work is great. The likelihood of thousands of ballots being returned after statutory deadline through no fault of the voter or clerk is very high calling into question the legitimacy of the election.

I am grateful that County Executive Parisi agrees with this assessment and that the County Board has scheduled this for Thursday's County Board meeting. I urge voters who agree to share this post and to email the County Board that you support Resolution 582 at county_board_recipients@countyofdane.com 

Gov Evers has the authority to effectively ban Election Day, in-person voting by virtue of his power during this public safety emergency.

Janel Heinrich, Director, Public Health Madison and Dane County sent a memo to the Madison City Attorney and Mayor dated March 30, entitled, "April 7th election and COVID-19: Urgent need to postpone and move to mail-in ballots only, " (Appendix. Public Health, Madison and Dane County memo).

Evers can issue a new, superseding Emergency Order through Health Sec.-designate Palm that bans public-planned, state-sanctioned gatherings that would preclude holding in-person voting on Election Day, as empowered by the Heath Emergency of March 12.

Evers is close to banning such polling place gatherings as will be heal on Election Day, in Palm's subsequent March 17 Emergency Order 5 - Prohibiting Mass Gatherings of Ten People or More.

Wisconsin is in a public health state of emergency, per Executive Order 72, Relating to Declaring a Health Emergency in Response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus​ ​— ​March 12, 2020.

But Evers has been reluctant to buck the Democratic National Committee in a year that sees Wisconsin hosting the Democratic National Convention in July.

Democratic-leaning sources say Evers has come under mounting pressure from the public health community, and is jeopardizing the political support of his base.

Wisconsin citizens on social media have been excoriating Gov Evers:

Christine Headson He should stand up for his constituents and to the citizens of Wisconsin for whom he took an oath to protect ! Have courage Governor Evers ‼️

Li-Lin Cheng

Maybe Governor Evers believes that the best cheese and microbrewery beer have made us Wisconsinites immune to Coronavirus pandemic?

Check out the blog of Mayor of Madison Satya Rhodes-Conway. Never mind what I said about Wisconsin cheese and beer. As someone who was a virologist, I find this unique approach of our Governor Evers very strange and concerning. BTW, nearly 60% of the polling stations do not have enough work force come next Tuesday on Election Day.

Tony C. Saladino You cannot self-quarantine and go to the polls.

Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Hits Gov Decision to Hold April 7 Elections in Column

Madison, Wisconsin — Madison, Wisconsin's mayor posted a column this afternoon saying postponing the April 7 elections is needed to ensure safe and fair elections.

Gov Tony Evers (D) faces mounting criticism for his refusal to delay the elections.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin is the site of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and Evers stands accused among many Wisconsin citizens of making political decisions out of perceived loyalty to the Democratic Party which wants the election to go forward.

On Monday, Madison filed a brief pdf  in federal court "asking the court to postpone the election for at least three weeks, allow all elected officials to remain in office until their successors are elected, and consider ordering a full mail-in ballot election," writes Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in her column today.

The issue is headed to federal court this week with two cases consolidated before Judge William M. Conley, United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

The case is DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE and DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN,Plaintiffs,vs.MARGE BOSTELMANN, JULIE M. GLANCEY, ANN S. JACOBS, DEAN KNUDSON, ROBERT F. SPINDELL, JR., and MARK L. THOMSEN, in their official capacities as Wisconsin Elections Commissioners. (Civil Action No. 3:20-cv-249-wmc)

Evers may reverse his decision soon, seven days out from Election Day.

The column on the city of Madison, Wisconsin website is reproduced below.
--
Wisconsin is the Only State in the Nation Moving Forward with an Election at this Stage of the Pandemic, Madison is Asking a Federal Court to Postpone the Election, Consider Mail-in Ballot

By Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway

Every state with an election scheduled in the middle of their COVID-19 outbreak has decided to postpone the election – every state except Wisconsin – making our state a national outlier pdf  and not in a good way. 

Last Friday, Governor Evers asked for absentee ballots be sent to all voters. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald called the idea a “complete fantasy.” But it is clearly the right way to go. 

The scientists and specialists at the UW Applied Population Lab share my concern pdf  that an in-person election on April 7th creates a significant risk to our efforts to slow the spread.

“Given the speed of COVID-19’s spread within Madison, Dane County, and the State of Wisconsin at this time, we feel strongly that asking voters to attend in-person voting as usual presents an unreasonable risk to individual voters, poll workers, and the general public.” In addition, “polling places are inherently high-contact settings which involve many individuals coming into close contact and touching the same objects over the course of a day.”

Due to these urgent concerns, the City of Madison filed a brief pdf  in federal court asking the court to postpone the election for at least three weeks, allow all elected officials to remain in office until their successors are elected, and consider ordering a full mail-in ballot election. The issue is headed to federal court this week with two cases consolidated before Judge William M. Conley, United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

With all the evidence in front of me, I can only conclude that the best way – and perhaps the only way – to hold a fair and safe election is to postpone it. 

Election Day Safety: 

In this period of uncertainty, ensuring fair, accessible, and safe elections on April 7th has been one of my top priorities for many weeks now. In an astonishing feat the City Clerk has processed some 70,000 absentee ballots. 

At the same time, City staff have been working hard to prepare for an in-person election and to keep it safe. The plans they’ve created to keep poll workers and voters safe on Election Day are impressive. Staff are searching for and even fabricating plastic face shields and Plexiglas barriers to protect both poll workers and voters from interfacing directly with each other. They’re planning for as much curbside voting as possible, and supplying each polling station with hand sanitizer, disinfectant spray, and gloves. On Election Day they’ll work to maintain at least 6 feet between poll workers and voters.

And yet challenges remain. We need 1,500 poll workers to manage the voting process on April 7th. To date, more than 1,000 volunteer poll workers have cancelled. And I can understand why – many are seniors who we’ve stressed should stay home. We’re working to recruit new volunteers, but admittedly must target folks in their 20s, 30s, and 40s – the age bracket with the highest rates of positive tests for COVID-19. In addition, we’ve received cancellations from several polling locations. We’re down to 66 polling locations, from an original 92. Combining multiple wards into a single location is our only solution at this point, but this will create larger gatherings and challenge our social distancing goals. 

You can stay updated on polling place changes here. 

Absentee Fairness and Access: 

Sending each voter a mail-in ballot is the best option to help slow the spread of COVID-19. But I believe a fair and accessible all-absentee election is impossible to achieve by April 7th. The logistics of managing an all-absentee process require more time to put in place – and further strain a Clerk’s Office workforce that has already been under immense pressure and is beyond exhaustion. 

The Clerk’s Office expected and planned for issuing 6,000-8,000 absentee ballot requests this spring. By now, they have sent out 70,000. They’ve struggled to find enough ballot envelopes and enough mailing labels, and they’ve worked 90-110 hour work weeks to manage the volume of requests, losing sleep and straining their own immune systems in the process. Producing tens of thousands more absentee ballots on the current schedule is not possible.

I also question whether an all-absentee election can be fair under our current rules and timeframe. The Madison Clerk’s Office takes hundreds of phone calls a day from voters who are struggling to navigate the online system or who live alone and cannot get a witness to sign their ballot. 

An all-absentee election, while safer, comes with its own set of logistical and accessibility issues that cannot be solved without more time and resources. Shifting the method of voting without shifting the date does not solve our problems.

With all of these factors in mind, I can only come to one conclusion: we must postpone the April 7th election to keep everybody safe and to keep our elections fair.

Gov Tony Evers' Inaction on Moving Elections Is Unconscionable

Coronavirus imperils Wisconsin as Gov Tony Evers
refuses action on elections to mounting criticism.

Update: Gov Evers' position remains let's hold the April 7 elections for in-person voting, and hope noone shows up at the poll because it's too dangerous.
--
Madison365 this weekend features a report from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) that says, "The coronavirus crisis will peak in Wisconsin around May 22, with about 1,350 people in the hospital and 13 people dying every day, and will last well into July."
--
One hell of a gamble with the safety of the Wisconsin people that Evers is taking.

But he has his reasons: Evers wants Wisconsin to not postpone elections, in accordance with the wishes of the national Democratic Party trying to shepherd establishment favorite, Joe Biden, as the nominee: "The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is asking states not to postpone their primaries amid the coronavirus pandemic," notes a reports from The Hill this weekend.

Public safety loses when matched against Party loyalty and group-think.
 ---
Madison, Wisconsin — With a flick of the state Health Sec-designee's pen, Gov Tony Evers can ban the dangerous in-person voting scheduled for Election Day, April 7, during this unprecedented state of emergency, (Wisconsin Executive Orders).

But Evers refuses to do so despite mounting criticism. Evers' staff says moving elections would result in a lawsuit, so no public-safety order from the administration, (Schmidt, Wisconsin State Journal).

This widely desired action would have the effect of canceling the elections, in a move many hope would result in rescheduling Wisconsin's Presidential Preference Primary, and other municipal and state elections.

A piece in the New York Times this morning makes the point:

With April elections rapidly approaching in Wisconsin, local officials were issuing stark warnings about holding in-person voting amid the escalating coronavirus outbreak, saying the state was forcing voters to choose between their health and their constitutional right to vote.

Local officials and members of the public fear for their health and very lives, and are urging Evers to act. See also 'How can I be positive?' La Crosse County nurse shares her experience with COVID-19.

Wisconsin State Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee), who tested positive for COVID 19 this week, said at a press conference, "There is no safe way to be able to have this election," (Becker, The Capital Times).

But for Tony Evers, the Democratic Party needs justify his gamble that noone shows up and votes in-person on Election Day — what Evers has been urging for days.

And state Republicans are no better.

Write Nick Corasaniti and Stephanie Saul in the Times:

Even as other states have postponed their presidential primaries, Evers has remained adamant the election will proceed as planned on April 7 — a decision that (State Sen) Fitzgerald (R) and (State Rep) Vos (R) have supported. All three have strongly encouraged residents to vote absentee.

The decision to hold the election at a time when nonessential travel and mass gatherings are banned in hopes of mitigating the respiratory disease’s spread has drawn strong criticism from poll workers, clerks and members of the public who argue doing so puts voters and poll workers at risk of infection.

Madison’s city clerk has said roughly half of poll workers scheduled to work the election have canceled. In Middleton, 25 of the city’s 72 poll workers, including two chief inspectors, will not staff election day. 

So what's with Evers and state Republican legislative leaders?

Republicans want elections to proceed as they game public health to retain a rightwing state Supreme Court justice in a depressed-turnout election.

And Evers wants the elections to proceed in defiance of the clear public health danger, to further the nomination of Joe Biden.

Unconscionable.