First presidential primaries amid COVID-19 underway in Wisconsin

After several rounds of back-and-forth court fight between the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled legislature, presidential primaries went as scheduled on Tuesday in Wisconsin, the first U.S. state where voters cast their ballots in person amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The lines were particularly long in Milwaukee, the state's largest city and a Democratic stronghold, where just five of 180 traditional polling places were open. Many voters across the state did not have facial coverings in line with public health recommendations.

Meanwhile, more than 2,500 National Guard troops were dispatched to staff the polls, where they helped perform the normal functions of poll workers while also distributing hand sanitizers.

In Madison, city workers also erected Plexiglas barriers to protect poll workers, and voters were encouraged to bring their own pens to mark the ballots.

The state had reported nearly 2,500 coronavirus infections and 77 related deaths as of Monday night.

A member of the Wisconsin National Guard who declined identification dispenses hand sanitizer to a voter entering a polling station at Douglas High School during the presidential primary election held amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., April 7, 2020. /Reuters

In light of the pandemic, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers issued an executive order Monday to postpone the election until June 9 and extend the deadline for absentee ballots until "the fifth day immediately preceding the new in-person election date."

The Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked the governor's executive order on the same day, keeping the primaries as planned and rendering a victory to the state's Republicans who control both the state senate and assembly.

"Thousands will wake up and have to choose between exercising their right to vote and staying healthy and safe," Evers said after the state Supreme Court ruling on Monday.

Shortly after the ruling, U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 along ideological lines to reverse a lower court ruling last Friday that allowed Wisconsinites to turn in their absentee ballots until April 13.

Voters practice social distancing as they wait in line outside Riverside University High School to cast ballots during the presidential primary election held amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., April 7, 2020. /Reuters

Wisconsin is one of the most contentiously fought battlegrounds in the U.S. election. Polls will close at 9 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday, and the state's elections commission has ordered municipal clerks not to release any results until April 13.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is now leading Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, his sole rival in the party's nominating contest. Incumbent President Donald Trump has already secured the Republican nomination.

Due to COVID-19's unabated spread across the nation, 15 states and one territory – Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wyoming and Puerto Rico – have either delayed their presidential primaries or canceled in-person voting, instead switching to mail-in votes with extended deadlines.

However, Trump has been trying with other Republicans to discourage efforts to expand voting by mail, saying it would increase the chance of voter fraud.

In an overnight tweet, Trump encouraged people to vote. That followed an earlier tweet in which the president urged those going to the polls to "be safe."

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday found that 72 percent of all U.S. adults, including 79 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Republicans, supported a requirement for mail-in ballots as a way to protect voters in case of a continued spread of the respiratory disease later this year.

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