, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access.
Rhonda Staats had two choices during the November election: cast a ballot in person and potentially expose herself to COVID-19, or vote absentee and risk having her vote changed without her knowledge.
Staats is one of about 100,000 voters in the state who are blind or visually impaired. These voters must travel to their polling place to use an accessible voting machine hoping one is available, operating and staff know how to use it or have someone fill in their ballot for them.
“There is no way that a blind person may vote independently using vote by mail,” Staats said, adding that any form of voting in Wisconsin as a blind person “is a constant struggle.”
Vos calls measure ‘bipartisan’ though all Democrats oppose it. //end headline wrapper ?>Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. File photo by Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.
The first bill that Republican lawmakers have voted on to address the coronavirus pandemic in eight and a half months cleared the Assembly Health Committee Tuesday, predictably along partisan lines.
While the committee’s five Democrats all voted against it and no Democrats in either house of the Legislature played a role in writing or sponsoring the legislation, Assembly Speaker
Robin Vos (R-Rochester) stuck to calling the bill “bipartisan” and has vowed to put it on a fast-track trip to the desk of Gov.
He demands Assembly meet in-person. That “could kill me,” Rep. Jimmy Anderson says. By Bruce Murphy - Dec 28th, 2020 03:52 pm //end headline wrapper ?>Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. File photo by Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.
Republican Assembly Speaker
Robin Vos has declared that the 99 members of the lower house must meet in-person when the Legislature convenes in January.
“People all across Wisconsin safely go to work every day and members of the Assembly are capable of doing so as well,” Vos in an emailed statement first reported by the Up North News. “Congress met this week to pass legislation and in January we will meet safely, like other legislatures across the country have done during the pandemic.”