Milwaukee Election Worker Staffing Drops As Cases Rise
City has less than one-third of required election workers
MILWAUKEE— March 29, 2020, The City of Milwaukee Election Commission reports a continued decline in election worker staffing numbers in anticipation of next week Tuesday’s Spring Election and Presidential Primary.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly half of the City’s election workforce were over the age of 60, with one-third over the age of 70. A majority of those workers have indicated an inability to work due to their high-risk status. Others, following local and state Stay at Home guidelines, are self-confining. The City has provided regular updates to elected state officials as well as the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
“The math is simple,” said Neil Albrecht, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. “We would normally operate our 180 sites with a minimum of 1,400 election workers. As of today, we have less than 400. We will not be able to maintain our longstanding tradition neighborhood-based voting for this election.”
The Election Commission is currently reviewing voting models used by other states in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as seeking guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Many municipalities in Wisconsin are consolidating sites in order to reduce the number of necessary workers and to be able to better enforce health and safety standards.
One option would involve Milwaukee moving to a model of ‘voting centers,’ where several aldermanic districts are combined into one voting site. “This is not a model I’m comfortable with,” said Neil Albrecht, citing that combined sites could also mean many more people voting per site, “but this is where the inaction of the Wisconsin Legislature has left the public: potentially placing themselves at risk in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote.”
Milwaukee has joined with other municipalities across the state to request an extension of the election date and limit voting to absentee only. Last week, all 19 Milwaukee County municipalities submitted a letter to the governor and members of the Wisconsin Legislature encouraging the elimination of inperson voting due to the risk to election workers and the public. To date, there has been no response.
The City continues to urge residents to vote absentee by applying online at myvote.wi.gov, or at Milwaukee’s recently launched drive-up voting site at the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building located at 841 N. Broadway. By-mail absentee ballots can be requested up until Thursday, April 2, and returned by mail or at any of the City’s five absentee ballot drop-off sites. Drive-up voting will continue until Sunday, April 5, with weekday hours of 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and weekend hours of 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
More about the 2020 Spring Primary
- Why Don Natzke Couldn’t Vote - Enjoyiana Nururdin - Aug 9th, 2020
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report highlights public health measures taken by the Milwaukee Health and Fire Departments, Department of Administration, Election Commission, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Aug 4th, 2020
- CDC Says Election Did Not Cause COVID-19 Spike - Erik Gunn - Aug 4th, 2020
- Pandemic Reduced Black Vote, Study Finds - Dee J. Hall - Jun 25th, 2020
- Did April Election Hike COVID-19 Cases? - Alana Watson - May 20th, 2020
- Elections Commission Notes ‘Lessons Learned’ - Henry Redman - May 19th, 2020
- Wisconsin Elections News: WEC Releases Analysis of Absentee Voting in April 7 Spring Election - Wisconsin Elections Commission - May 18th, 2020
- Election’s Impact on County’s COVID-19 Cases Unclear - Jeramey Jannene - May 6th, 2020
- Why State’s Voting By Mail Was Chaotic - Daniel C. Vock - May 4th, 2020
- At Least 40 COVID-19 Cases Tied to Election in Milwaukee - Graham Kilmer - Apr 24th, 2020
Read more about 2020 Spring Primary here
More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- Governors Tony Evers, JB Pritzker, Tim Walz, and Gretchen Whitmer Issue a Joint Statement Concerning Reports that Donald Trump Gave Russian Dictator Putin American COVID-19 Supplies - Gov. Tony Evers - Oct 11th, 2024
- MHD Release: Milwaukee Health Department Launches COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Dashboard - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jan 23rd, 2024
- Milwaukee County Announces New Policies Related to COVID-19 Pandemic - County Executive David Crowley - May 9th, 2023
- DHS Details End of Emergency COVID-19 Response - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Apr 26th, 2023
- Milwaukee Health Department Announces Upcoming Changes to COVID-19 Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Mar 17th, 2023
- Fitzgerald Applauds Passage of COVID-19 Origin Act - U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald - Mar 10th, 2023
- DHS Expands Free COVID-19 Testing Program - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Feb 10th, 2023
- MKE County: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rising - Graham Kilmer - Jan 16th, 2023
- Not Enough Getting Bivalent Booster Shots, State Health Officials Warn - Gaby Vinick - Dec 26th, 2022
- Nearly All Wisconsinites Age 6 Months and Older Now Eligible for Updated COVID-19 Vaccine - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Dec 15th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by City of Milwaukee Election Commission
Safe. Secure. Counted! Make Sure Your Vote Counts in the 414 this Election Day
Nov 3rd, 2020 by City of Milwaukee Election CommissionCity of Milwaukee’s Election Commission provides information on Election Day voting
Milwaukee Election Worker Staffing Drops As Cases Rise
Mar 29th, 2020 by City of Milwaukee Election CommissionCity has less than one-third of required election workers