GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — In paperwork filed in federal court, the city of Green Bay outlined several concerns with Tuesday's upcoming election.
The brief is in support of federal lawsuits that look to postpone or change the in-person election. The city argued that the only way to protect the sanctity of the election and the health and safety of the community is to postpone the election scheduled for April 7.
The city wrote that it's considering a proposal to open just four polling sites in large, gymnasium type spaces. There are typically 31 polling places open on election day. The city said there are still concerns about the proposal, notably that it would bring a lot of people into the spaces.
Those polling places are typically staffed by 232 workers and 46 chief inspectors. However, the city wrote that 236 workers and inspectors have already said they will not be able to work on election day. Of the 42 people who said they can work, the majority of them are more than 65 years old. The city also said it has a shortage of cleaning and sanitizing products to keep surfaces clean.
In the paperwork, the city also noted a sharp spike in absentee ballot requests. They city said 8,230 ballots have been sent and another 5,511 have been requested. That's an increase of 500% compared to the April 2016 primary. The city said the five employees in the clerk's office have worked 120 hours of overtime in the last two weeks in an effort to process the requests.
A federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday in a case seeking to delay the election.
