17:35

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

Wisconsin elections officials do not currently have enough cleaning supplies or poll workers to adequately run the state’s April 7 primary, election officials warned on Friday.

The officials asked Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, to help them acquire hand sanitizer, as well as with assistance recruiting poll workers in a Friday letter. They also asked him to assign a public health expert to the commission to assist with guidance for local officials and messaging.

“As of today, local election officials do not have access to the people or supplies needed. This leaves voters, clerks, and poll workers to make difficult choices,” Megan Wolfe, the commission’s administrator, wrote on Friday. “Voters should not have to choose

between voting or staying healthy.”

Florida and Illinois, two states that held primaries this week faced criticism for moving ahead with their primary contests despite health concerns. In both states, poll workers didn’t show up on election day and some of those who did lacked adequate cleaning supplies. A handful of states have already moved their primaries amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Wisconsin’s April 7 election includes many local contests in addition to its presidential preference primary, including a crucial statewide state supreme court race. The state does not require an excuse to vote absentee, and election officials there have already received more than 300,000 requests for absentee ballots. Democrats are suing the state to try and give voters more time to register online or by mail and to waive the requirement that voters submit photo ID with their request for a ballot.