Wisconsin Watch

Analysis of voter data from Wisconsin’s April primary shows a far more measurable and consequential effect of mail-in voting — rejected ballots. Slightly more than 23,000 ballots were thrown out, mostly because those voters or their witnesses missed at least one line on a form.

Mariah Clark is no stranger to dealing with COVID-19 in her work as an emergency department nurse at UW Health in Madison. But the virus unexpectedly touched Clark’s personal life in late June.

Conspiracy theories about contact tracing have percolated on social media since early May, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published guidelines on how state health authorities should implement this “core disease control measure” to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has killed at least 130,000 Americans — including about 800 Wisconsinites, according to government estimates.

Like thousands of other jobless Wisconsinites, Alfreida Casterlow is trapped in the purgatory of Wisconsin’s backlogged and overloaded unemployment system — with no income or idea of when it might arrive.

Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance system has failed to deliver for thousands of residents at a time when they most need it, leaving many to miss bill payments, rack up new credit card debt, lean on food pantries and face eviction — even homelessness.

Significant numbers of Milwaukee voters were dissuaded from voting on April 7 by the sharp reduction in polling places and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic — with the biggest effects seen among Black voters, according to a new study.

Now, after the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many students from their campus homes and wreaked havoc on the state’s election processes, college voters are likely facing even more difficulties in casting their ballots.

According to data provided on June 11 by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, there were 192 confirmed drug overdose deaths from Jan. 1 to March 19, with 62 more probable cases pending toxicology tests.

After issuing a slew of denials, state regulators are now pushing to give federal pandemic aid to laid-off Wisconsinites with disabilities.

Thousands of voters face possible deactivation as groups battle over whether Wisconsin must trim the rolls ahead of crucial 2020 election