Joe Biden on Tuesday night said that the Wisconsin primary election should not have been conducted using in-person ballots, his first criticism of the state after saying in recent days it was up to local officials.

“My gut is that we shouldn’t have had the election in the first place, the in-person election,” he said in an interview on CNN with Chris Cuomo, who has been broadcasting from his basement after testing positive for the coronavirus. “It should have been all mail ballots. It should have been moved in the way that five other states have done it. The idea we didn’t have enough poll workers in what, over 100 and some polling places in Milwaukee?

"This was all about the Republican legislature pushing really, really hard to maintain and make sure they had an election. I think they know that low turnout affects their interests.”

While criticizing the state for having an in-person election, Biden also said that, in the wake of Wisconsin’s decision, other elections should not be postponed, particularly the general election in November.

“No. it shouldn’t creep into your mind. Look, we’ve been through hell before,” he said, pointing to wartime elections or the one conducted during the 1918 influenza pandemic. “We had elections in every major crisis. We can take care of our health and our democracy. The idea of postponing an election is not possible. It should not happen.”

Biden also spoke about the call that he had with President Trump on Monday, although he said that at Trump’s request he would not discuss details of their conversation.

“I laid out what I thought he should be doing — laid out four or five specific points that I thought were necessary,” he said. “I indicated that it was about taking responsibility, being commander in chief.