WISCONSIN (NBC 26) — Democrats and Republicans are still at odds about today's election as voters go to the polls.
"This is a total disaster," State Senator Dave Hansen, (D) Green Bay, said.
"Today, you're going to see Democracy prevail," State Senator Roger Roth, (R) Appleton, said.
The two viewpoints come after a contentious week that saw numerous moves by both parties. Governor Tony Evers reversed course in previous days and tried to postpone the election with an executive order. Republicans challenged that move, and the state's Supreme Court ruled that the election would continue.
"To me, I think they (Republicans) like the idea of suppressing the vote," Hansen said. "To me it's one of the saddest days of my career, my 20th year. This is outrageous and people could get sit and they could have done so much better."
Republicans though, said it was Governor Evers who put the state's election at risk with his executive order. Senator Roth said there are elected offices that need to be filled based on today's vote.
"Nobody would be running those governments in these moments of crisis," Roth said. "That's why it wasn't the perfect decision to hold the election today as planned, but it was the right decision because it's going to ensure that we have leadership at all levels of government as we move through this crisis."
Itwas the municipal levels of government that opened polling places for voters on Tuesday. Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson disagreed with that decision. He said now the county will do what it can.
"The clerks out there - the county clerk, the municipal clerks, these folks have been running ragged for weeks now," Nelson said. "It's a great team, I'm proud of them, and they'll do a good job."
What everyone did agree on is the decision to go out and vote is not up to the government, but rather each and every individual.
