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Updated April 8th, 2020 at 08:06 IST

US black voter turnout likely to be hit by virus

The decision to go ahead with Wisconsin's primary amid a global pandemic could disproportionately affect the turnout of black voters, who have suffered the most from the spread of the coronavirus in the state.

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The decision to go ahead with Wisconsin's primary amid a global pandemic could disproportionately affect the turnout of black voters, who have suffered the most from the spread of the coronavirus in the state.

Many of them fear that in-person voting will put them at risk of catching the virus, especially since the city's polling places have been condensed from 180 to just five.

Marcelia Nicholson, a Milwaukee County Supervisor who also is a union representative for some local arena workers, says Republicans are using a national health crisis as a form of voter suppression.

She says blacks have been given an impossible choice: "Prioritize your health and stay home or go and vote at the ballot box."

Democrats in and out of Wisconsin screamed for the contest to be postponed, yet Republicans — and the conservative-majority state Supreme Court — would not give in.

The fight over whether to postpone the election, as more than a dozen states have done, was colored by a state Supreme Court election also being held Tuesday. A lower turnout was thought to benefit the conservative candidate.

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Published April 8th, 2020 at 08:05 IST

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