Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders urges Wisconsin to delay April election

MILWAUKEE -- Democratic presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, April 1 issued the following statement ahead of Wisconsin's April 7th primary:

"People should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote, which is why 15 states are now following the advice of public health experts and delaying their elections. We urge Wisconsin to join them. The state should delay Tuesday’s vote, extend early voting and work to move entirely to vote-by-mail. While we wait for a decision, we urge our supporters to vote-by-mail."


Absentee ballots update

Wisconsin voters have requested more than 1 million absentee ballots as the state prepares to hold the April 7 election, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday, April 1.

As of Wednesday morning, 1,053,556 absentee applications have been received by Wisconsin municipal clerks, with 1,028,734 sent and 387,833 returned so far. It’s important to note that this number does not include absentee ballot requests that have not yet been entered into the state system by clerks, such as emailed requests, mailed requests, or requests by voters that require the clerk to approve the photo ID, meaning the number of requests may be much higher.