'I had to go do this:' Some waited 2 hours on final day of drive-thru voting in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE -- Despite the coronavirus pandemic, court battles and a plea from Democrats to hold off, Election Day remains scheduled for Tuesday, April 7 in Wisconsin. Those with absentee ballots have until 4 p.m. on April 13 to return them.

With just five polling locations set to be open Tuesday in Milwaukee (instead of the usual 180), there was a massive turnout Sunday on the final day of drive-thru voting at the Zeidler Building in downtown Milwaukee.

"We're almost there," said Rhonda Henning. "We're at the finish line."

"It's a lot of people here," said Stella Nathan. "I didn't expect that many people."

Things were scheduled to wrap up at 5 p.m., but FOX6's cameras captured a lot of people in vehicles waiting to cast their ballot.

FOX6 News spoke with some who had been waiting for about two hours.

"We got in line at 2:30 p.m." said Crystal Stinemates. "It's 4 p.m. now."

"I wanted to do this to make sure my vote got in," said Henning. "I'm just going to do it. I'd rather do that than go in and vote. I just don't want to go into a space, even though they're dividing everybody up and everything."

"The police are out here trying to make sure everybody knows what they're doing, where they're going," said Nathan.

Workers greeted voters curbside, issuing ballots and collecting them in minutes.

Several voters said they didn't want to go to the polls on Tuesday due to health concerns, but they wanted to make sure their voices were heard.

"I saw people rallying on Facebook, like, let's get people to vote. Let's go out here. Let's do this," said Nathan. "I've always been a voter. My mom has been a voter, so it's just kind of in my blood, almost. I was like, I have to go do this, no matter the circumstances."

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and nine other mayors submitted the below letter to Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm Sunday:

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Elections Commission sent a letter to legislative leaders Sunday, calling their failure to address safety issues surrounding the election"unconscionable." In the letter, addressed to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, the WEC said they cannot guarantee the safety of voters, and 111 municipalities don't have sufficient poll workers to open a single polling site.

They called on lawmakers to delay the election.

Gov. Tony Evers on Friday urged the Legislature to postpone Election Day. Doing so would take the action of the Legislature and Gov. Evers. So, Gov. Evers called lawmakers into a special session for 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 4. Two Democratic senators attended, including Milwaukee's Tim Carpenter. Lawmakers gaveled in and gaveled out, and there was no debate or testimony.

Gov. Evers called for the Legislature to extend the election from April 7 until May 19. He wanted ballots mailed to all registered voters who had not already requested an absentee ballot or voted early. He also asked for no more in-person voting, except for people with disabilities or who can't read. Under Gov. Evers' proposal, ballots could be received through May 26. People serving in local and county offices, whose spots become vacant in April, would continue in their jobs until the election is called.

Republicans shot down the governor's plan, writing:

In fact, Gov. Evers in a court brief earlier in the week still said that the election could happen on April 7. And, after Saturday's special session, that's where it will stay, for now. The session was adjourned until Monday, April 6 -- one day before the election.

A federal judge ruled absentee ballots could be delivered through April 13, but Republicans appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme County on Saturday.

The GOP argued in their brief to Justice Brett Kavanaugh that the absentee extension is “a deeply consequential and disruptive change” that risks confusing voters, comes too close to the election and unfairly creates two different deadlines for voters — one for in-person voting and one for absentees.

“Absentee voting should not be a procedure that gives some voters dramatically different incentives and information than others, permits advocacy groups to strategically chase down ballots that were not cast on election day, and otherwise disrupts Wisconsin statutes that aim to separate cleanly the time for ballot casting and ballot counting,” their filing said, requesting a stay by Monday.