Clerks Urge Vaccines for Election Workers
35 election clerks in state say election workers 'essential,' push Evers to give them priority for vaccines.

Dr. Ben Weston receives second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Photo courtesy of the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Milwaukee County Clerk George L. Christenson has assembled a group of 35 clerks from around the state to request that election workers be included in the next phase of vaccinations.
Election workers — as a class — are not included in the next phase of vaccination under the current guidelines for vaccination from the Department of Health Services (DHS) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work that goes on in preparation for every election,” Christenson said. “It’s not something they can do from home, obviously.”
Election workers in the clerk’s office are programming for the election, putting together supplies for municipal clerks and remaining open to the public for candidates and voters with issues that need to be addressed before election day, he said.
“I’m very frustrated,” Christenson said, “because I believe that election workers were overlooked as the CDC put together their groupings.”
The clerk has been trying to get someone, anyone, in the administration of Gov. Tony Evers or with the State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee to listen to his calls. He told Urban Milwaukee he has yet to speak to an actual person.
On Tuesday, he sent a letter, signed by 35 other county clerks, imploring the governor to make election workers eligible for vaccination. Milwaukee County Supervisor Joseph Czarnecki has also called upon the governor, asking for election workers to be vaccinated.
When the latest round of recommendations came down from the state regarding the next phase of vaccinations, Christenson said, “I was shocked and saddened to see they were overlooked given we just went through one of the most publicized, contentious and dangerous elections in history, and of course with the recount that was a whole other layer of danger.”
Both the scale and manner of the 2020 election made it an unprecedented undertaking for election workers. It was one of the highest turnout elections in recent history, with the largest number ever of mail-in ballots.
In Christenson’s office, there are five people working in the office every day, in close quarters, “that are extremely essential and critical to this election and don’t qualify under any of the groups,” he noted, and don’t qualify for vaccination.
Christenson said “it’s just awful that our society has been put in this position by our former president,” given that the pandemic has been going on for nearly a year, and the federal government should have had a clear plan and the ability to do more vaccinations.
In early February, the State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee (SDMAC), which has been making recommendations to DHS for each phase of vaccination, halted their deliberations until there was clear guidance from President Joe Biden’s administration on the national vaccine strategy.
Christenson said this hiatus presents an opening for the state to once again consider election workers for eligibility.
Read the letter from county clerks to the governor here.
More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- DHS Updates COVID-19 Illness After Vaccination Page to Include Data by Booster Dose Status - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - May 26th, 2022
- WI Health Department Urges Booster Shots for Ages 5 to 11 - Erik Gunn - May 24th, 2022
- DHS Recommends COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses to Everyone 5 and Older - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - May 23rd, 2022
- MKE County: COVID-19 Cases Rising Again - Graham Kilmer - May 20th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - May 20th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Mask Advisory - City of Milwaukee Health Department - May 20th, 2022
- State’s COVID-19 Cases Up 66% in May - Erik Gunn - May 17th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - May 13th, 2022
- DHS Announces the Moving Forward Together Grant Program to Support Health Equity Efforts in COVID-19 Vaccinations - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - May 12th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - May 6th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
MKE County
-
Board Takes Over Redistricting, Rejects Independent Effort
Oct 23rd, 2021 by Graham Kilmer
-
Independent Committee Submits Final Map for Supervisor Districts
Oct 20th, 2021 by Graham Kilmer
-
COVID-19 Case Burden Remains High
Oct 6th, 2021 by Graham Kilmer