"Even before the virus struck, Republicans and Democrats were girding for a record number of voting rights lawsuits throughout the states..."

"... over voter identification provisions, the location of polling sites, and moves to purge voter rolls. But the pressure to move to more voting by mail has intensified the maneuvering, and shifted its focus to absentee balloting....  Richard L. Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine... [said] 'We know that voter fraud, while very rare, more commonly occurs with absentee ballots than in-person balloting... [but w]hile there are legitimate reasons to worry about increased vote by mail... it’s not legitimate to fear increased vote by mail because it means that more voters would be able to vote'....  'I hope not, but I fear Wisconsin is a preview of what we’re about to see in the rest of the country,' said Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Mr. Wikler said that the Republicans had been seeking to stick to the April 7 in-person election date to ensure low turnout, which, he said, would be a potential boon to Mr. Kelly, the conservative judge up for re-election. 'I think it creates a perceived opportunity, even if the public health consequences are ghastly,' Mr. Wikler said. He later tweeted that the Supreme Court decision would 'consign an unknown number of Wisconsinites to their deaths.'"

From "Wisconsin Election Fight Heralds a National Battle Over Virus-Era Voting" (NYT).

I love the Hasen quote: "there are legitimate reasons to worry about increased vote by mail... it’s not legitimate to fear increased vote by mail." Legitimate to worry but not legitimate to fear? I can imagine babbling out such a thing, but why did the Times print that quote? Of course, he's just trying to say what is always said on this subject, that making voting easier also makes it less secure and the 2 major parties emphasize the pros or cons based on their own interest in winning elections. It's easy to pick your party and know which side to come out on.

Wikler is, of course, openly on the Democratic side, and he's seizing hold of the new argument: DEATH!!!  That's a solid addition to the old argument that Republicans want to disenfranchise minority voters.

Meanwhile, here I am in Wisconsin on election morning, completely accepting my own disenfranchisement. I'm one of those citizens who always vote, but I'm not voting today and I did not request an absentee ballot. I did not like the procedure for requesting an absentee ballot (committing to voting absentee for the entire year and uploading a photo of my driver's license to a government website). And the level of social distancing I've chosen for myself — I don't go to the grocery store, though it's open — is inconsistent with going through my polling place. I don't believe that voting would consign me to my death. In fact, I'm not particularly afraid at all. I just have my preferences and I've made my decision. And it actually fits with my political preference: aloofness.