Voters have started to line up to cast their ballots across Wisconsin, ignoring a stay-at-home order amid the COVID-19 pandemic in order to take part in the state's primary. Polls across the crucial battleground state opened at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. local time, with TV footage showing long lines of voters.
Many people are not wearing face coverings, despite public health recommendations.
"No reports of polling places unable to open. We've talked to a number of counties today and they are not reporting problems. We are surveying county clerks asking to report if they have any municipalities who were unable to open the polls or are experiencing issues", the Wisconsin Elections Commission said in a blog post.
Photos and videos of the long lines of voters have emerged online.
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) April 7, 2020
— FiorellaITSRIGGEDIsabel🌹🔥 (@Fiorella_im) April 7, 2020
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) April 7, 2020
— Mike De Sisti (@mdesisti) April 7, 2020
The voting went ahead after the state's supreme court overturned an order from Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, to postpone the vote.
A day earlier, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that the US state would postpone the presidential primary planned for 7 April due to concerns over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, Wisconsin's Republican leaders in both chambers of the legislature challenged Evers on the constitutionality of the decision to delay the primary vote in the state.
In the meantime, US President Donald Trump said in a press briefing that the general election in the United States is still expected to take place on 3 November.
The COVID-19 death toll in the United States has risen above 11,000, according to the latest data published by Johns Hopkins University at 10:20 a.m. EST (2:20 GMT).
According to the university, which provides aggregate figures of the coronavirus disease outbreak across the globe, the total number of confirmed cases in the US since the start of the outbreak now stands at 368,533, the highest number of infections in any country.
