A source close to the governor told POLITICO on Saturday that Evers had no plans to take further action in an attempt to stop the election, despite his suggestion on Friday that he might explore other options.

“It is highly likely, if not a certainty, that this election is going to happen on April 7 no matter what the governor does,” said the source.

The source cautioned that the coronavirus pandemic continues to quickly evolve and Evers could be prompted to take more action if an unforeseen circumstance arises.

And Evers is expected to face more pressure from his own party to reconsider. Already, a slew of mayors were drawing up a letter Saturday evening to send to the governor, calling on him to do more to stop the election.

“Republicans in the Legislature are playing politics with public safety and ignoring the urgency of this public health crisis. It’s wrong. No one should have to choose between their health and their right to vote," Evers said in a statement. “This, however, is an easy decision. It's time for every Republican legislator to do their jobs and take a vote on this commonsense proposal to extend the election date so everyone can vote safely from home. I urge every Wisconsinite to contact their legislators and demand a vote.”

Republicans seemed unmoved. The Wisconsin GOP has signaled it has no intention to relent on the issue and, in fact, Republicans on Saturday went further, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that expanded absentee balloting in the state.

The governor's reasoning in deciding not to take additional action, such as attempting to order polls closed by his own action or having a health official shutter them, is that it could backfire on him, the source close to Evers said.

If the issue went before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which holds a Republican majority, Evers risks inadvertently creating precedent that could adversely affect his emergency powers, the source said. Beyond that, the governor’s office doesn’t want to expend all of its political capital in a fight over moving the election because it needs GOP legislative leaders to play ball on a broader coronavirus funding package.

“The decision-making for us — we have to look beyond April 7 as we respond to this public health crisis. The surge is coming, it’s going to happen after April 7,” the source said.

Mayors across the state have for weeks pleaded for a delay, amid a severe shortage of poll workers, who have been sickened by the novel coronavirus or are fearful of contamination. The shortages have meant the closure of polling sites, including in predominantly minority areas of Milwaukee. Milwaukee, which typically has about 180 polling sites, announced it would have just five open.

On Saturday, the Republican National Committee, the Wisconsin Republican Party and the GOP-controlled state Legislature sought an emergency stay at the U.S. Supreme Court of a lower court's ruling that expanded absentee voting in the state.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Conley said absentee ballots in the state can be returned through 4 p.m. on April 13, nearly a week after in-person voting is still scheduled to take place. Conley also extended the deadline that has since passed to request an absentee ballot and waived a witness signature requirement for voters who were unable to “safely obtain a witness certification despite reasonable efforts to do so.”

After an appeal from Republicans, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restored the witness signature requirement. The circuit court, however, left the extended absentee ballot timeline in place.

Now, Republicans are asking the highest court in the land to also strike the absentee ballot extension. Republicans are asking for a "stay of the district court’s injunction to the extent it requires the State to count absentee ballots postmarked after April 7, thus clarifying that absentee ballots must be postmarked (or personally delivered to the polls) no later than April 7 in order to be counted."

Outside of the court order, Wisconsin laws usually requires that absentee ballots be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day. There is no postmark requirement.

A report from the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Tuesday found that nearly 60 percent of Wisconsin’s municipalities were reporting a shortage of poll workers, including more than 100 jurisdictions that said they lacked the ability to staff even one voting site right now.

Evers had previously asked the Legislature to mail out ballots to Wisconsin residents — something Republicans shot down — though the governor did not call for a delay in the primary until Friday. That was after officials in his own party expressed frustration that the governor had not done more to exercise his powers to halt the election amid the health crisis.

In a joint statement on Friday, legislative GOP leaders dismissed Evers’ last-minute plea, saying that hundreds of thousands of workers still were attending their jobs every day.

“There’s no question that an election is just as important as getting take-out food,” the statement said.

Wisconsin's health officials have reported more than 2,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and 56 related deaths.

