Elections

As of early Sunday morning, more than 92 million Americans had cast a ballot in the November elections. That’s nearly 62 percent of the total number of people who voted in 2016, and there are still two days until Election Day.This is excellent news. In the middle of a global pandemic that has taken the lives of nearly a quarter of a million Americans, upended the national economy and thrown state election procedures into turmoil, there were reasonable concerns that many people would not vote at all. The numbers to date suggest that 2020 could see record turnout.While celebrating this renewed citizen involvement in America’s political process, don’t lose sight of the bigger, and darker, picture. For decades, Americans have voted at depressingly low rates for a modern democracy. Even in a “good” year, more than one-third of all eligible voters don’t cast a ballot. In a bad year, that number can approach two-thirds.Why are so many Americans consistently missing in action on Election Day?For many, it’s a choice. They are disillusioned with government, or they feel their vote doesn’t matter because politicians don’t listen to them anyway.For many more, the main obstacle is bureaucratic inertia. In New York City, a decrepit, incompetent, self-dealing board of elections has been making a mockery of democracy for decades. Just in the past four years, tens of thousands of absentee ballots have been sent to the wrong addresses, and hundreds of thousands of voters have been wrongly purged from the rolls. For the past few days, some New Yorkers have been forced to stand in line for four or five hours to cast their ballots.But across the country, the group most responsible for making voting harder, if not impossible, for millions of Americans is the Republican Party. Republicans have been saying it themselves for ages. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” Paul Weyrich, a leader of the modern conservative movement, told a gathering of religious leaders in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”This strategy has become a central pillar of the G.O.P. platform. It is behind the party’s relentless push for certain state laws and practices — like strict voter-identification requirements and targeted voter purges — that claim to be about preserving electoral integrity but are in fact about suppressing turnout and voting among groups that lean Democratic.The strategy also is behind the partisan gerrymandering that Republican state lawmakers have mastered over the past decade, redrawing district lines to keep themselves in power even when they lose a majority of the statewide vote. (Democrats gerrymander when they can, too, but the most egregious examples of the past decade have been by Republicans.)And the party is behind the early shutdown of this year’s census, which the Trump administration insisted on over the objections of longtime Census Bureau officials, and which it hopes will result in an undercount of people in Democratic-leaning parts of the country.The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has greenlit the Republicans’ anti-democratic power grabs. In 2013, by a 5-to-4 vote, the court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, giving free rein to states with long histories of racial discrimination in voting. Last year, the court, again by a 5-to-4 vote, refused to block even the most brazenly partisan gerrymanders, no matter how much they disenfranchised voters.This year, in the face of the unprecedented hurdles to voting introduced by the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans are battling from coast to coast to ensure that casting a ballot is as hard as it can be. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott mandated a single ballot drop-box per county — including the increasingly Democratic Harris County, population 4.7 million. Republican lawmakers there are also suing to throw out more than 100,000 ballots cast by Harris County voters from their cars, at drive-through sites.In Nevada, the Trump campaign and the state Republican Party have sued to stop counting mail-in ballots until observers can more closely monitor the signature-matching process. In Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin, Republicans have fought to prevent the counting of all mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if they are postmarked on or before Nov. 3.This all amounts to “a concerted national Republican effort across the country in every one of the states that has had a legal battle to make it harder for citizens to vote,” said Trevor Potter, a Republican lawyer who formerly led the Federal Election Commission and worked on both of John McCain’s presidential campaigns.The effort has been turbocharged by President Trump, who has spent the past year falsely attacking the integrity of mail-in ballots. Mr. Trump’s lies have been echoed by the attorney general, William Barr, who has claimed that mail balloting is associated with “substantial fraud.” Not remotely true. Mr. Trump’s own handpicked F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, has said there is no evidence of any coordinated voter-fraud effort. Scholars, researchers and judges have said for years that voting fraud of any kind is vanishingly rare in this country. That hasn’t stopped Republicans from alleging that it happens all the time. They know that accusations of fraud can be enough by themselves to confuse voters and drive down turnout.When that tactic fails, Republicans turn to another tried-and-true one: voter intimidation. Frightening people, particularly Black people, away from the ballot box has a long history in the United States. Modern Republicans have done it so consistently that in 1982 a federal court barred the national party from engaging in any so-called anti-voter-fraud operations. The ban was renewed again and again over the decades, because Republicans kept violating it. In 2018, however, it expired, meaning that 2020 is the first election in which Republicans can intimidate with abandon.All the while, Mr. Trump happily plays the part of intimidator in chief. He has urged his supporters to enlist in an “Army for Trump,” monitoring polls. “A lot of strange things happening in Philadelphia,” Mr. Trump said during a recent campaign stop in Pennsylvania. “We’re watching you, Philadelphia. We’re watching at the highest level.”Representative democracy works only when a large majority of people participate in choosing their representatives. That can happen only when those in power agree that voting should be as easy and widely available as possible. Yet today, one of the two major political parties is convinced it cannot win on a level playing field — and will not even try.What would a level playing field look like? For starters, it would have more polling places, more early-voting days and shorter voting lines. Since the Supreme Court gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, almost 1,700 polling places have been shut down, most of them in the states that had been under federal supervision for their past discriminatory voting practices. It’s no surprise that voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods wait 29 percent longer to cast ballots than voters in white neighborhoods.A fair election would mean giving all states the necessary funds to implement automatic voter registration and to upgrade old voting machines. It would mean allowing people with criminal records to vote as soon as they have completed the terms of their sentences.Many of these reforms have already been adopted in some states, and they have enjoyed bipartisan support. In the case of early voting, some Republican-led states are ahead of their Democratic counterparts. Georgia, for example, has long offered many weeks of early voting — far better than New York, which began the practice only last year, and for only 10 days. (It’s worth noting that Georgia once had even more early-voting days. Republican lawmakers cut them back by more than half after Black voters started taking advantage of early voting in 2008.)To help ensure that voting is easier for everybody, the federal government needs to take action. Currently, there are two comprehensive voting-rights bills in Congress, the Voting Rights Amendment Act and H.R. 1, also known as the For the People Act. The first bill would update the old map the Supreme Court invalidated in 2013 and would identify the states and localities that are racially discriminating against their voters today, requiring them to seek federal court approval before changing any election laws.The second bill would, among other things, create a national voter-registration program; make it harder for states to purge voting rolls; and take gerrymandering away from self-interested state legislatures, putting the redistricting process in the hands of nonpartisan commissions.The House of Representatives passed both of these bills in 2019, with all Democrats voting in favor both times. The Voting Rights Amendment Act got the vote of a single House Republican. H.R. 1 got none. The Republican-led Senate has refused to act on either. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, mocked H.R. 1 by referring to it as the “Democrat Politician Protection Act.” Listen to him closely. He is only repeating what most Republicans have believed for decades: When more people vote, Republicans lose.That’s why, if either of these laws is going to pass, it will require, at a minimum, voting out Republicans at every level who insist on suppressing the vote. Only then can those who believe in representative democracy for all Americans reset the rules and help ensure that everyone’s vote counts.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected] The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. More

From the droves of people voting by mail to the widespread protests for racial justice to the pandemic and worries about the electoral process itself, the 2020 election cycle provides “a recipe for a lot of angst” on Election Day, according to Alvin Bernard Tillery Jr., a professor of political science at Northwestern University .“We’re seeing a huge increase in the need for mental health services,” said Eva Escobedo, a therapist specializing in relationship issues at Just Mind, a counseling center in Austin, Texas. With the pandemic keeping many families apart, the usual rallying points — like shared love of a sports team — have frayed. “One of the very few things that remains, and not only remains but is heightened, is our political standing,” Ms. Escobedo said. “I think that people are way more polarized even within their families and essential groups than they ever have been before.”So how can you engage with friends and family members across the political divide on Election Day and afterward without succumbing to fights and finger-pointing? It starts with addressing your own big feelings. Prepare for no results.Uncertainty produces anxiety, but you can counter that, in part, by understanding what to expect on Election Day this year. In the past, many people have shared the ritual of watching the returns and staying up until the election has been called. This year, Dr. Tillery observed, there’s a significant chance the presidential election will not be called on Tuesday night. Just eight states have said they anticipate reporting 98 percent of the unofficial results by noon on Wednesday, so many votes may not have been counted yet.Remember, this is not necessarily a cause for concern in itself: Tallying provisional ballots and ballots received by mail takes more time, and states like Pennsylvania and parts of Michigan don’t allow absentee ballots to be processed until Election Day. In some places, election officials may also need to reach out to voters to verify their ballots. All of this helps insure that an individual’s vote is counted.“Voters should get some comfort from knowing that we do have counting procedures and auditing procedures and voter notification procedures that would make it better for us to be calm and let those processes play out,” said Myrna Pérez, the director of the Voting Rights and Election Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit public policy institute affiliated with New York University.It’s possible, in the month between Election Day and the Electoral College’s Dec. 8 deadline to settle disputes over the results, that candidates will try to claim victory prematurely or manipulate the results. Be on the lookout for viral disinformation: Check the provenance of news articles or memes making polarizing political claims or calling the election before a mainstream news outlet has done so.Cool off if you need to.According to a poll released by the American Psychological Association in October, 68 percent of adults report finding the election to be a significant source of stress. This is due, at least in part, to the vitriol and name-calling exhibited by candidates, according to Steven Stosny, a couples counselor based in Gaithersburg, Md., who came up with the term “election stress disorder” during the 2016 election cycle. “That kind of negative emotion being displayed by public figures gets very contagious,” he said.Election Day isn’t going to bring an end to the anxiety — especially if the race hasn’t been called for a candidate. So before you bring up politics with family members, take a moment to assess where your head’s at. That way, you’ll be better equipped to handle potentially challenging, contentious conversations. You may need “to stew,” Ms. Escobedo said. “Give yourself a break.” She recommended taking a period of time — perhaps a day or two — to allow yourself to be a little off-kilter.Limit your ambient exposure to social media, where attacks on a candidate or policy can feel like attacks on you, personally. Dr. Stosny suggests setting aside specific periods to check the news or your social media feeds. If you do engage with relatives or friends on Facebook or Twitter, try to take those conversation offline, where you might have a more successful and meaningful exchange. Nevertheless, Dr. Jena Lee, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles, cautioned against assuming you’ll be an anxious mess on Election Day. “Humans are quite resilient,” she said. “There’s a strong possibility that you will be able to cope.”Have productive conversations with family.It will remain important to discuss political issues and what’s at stake with those closest to you, even if you tend to disagree. Those conversations don’t have to get heated, even if you’re confronted with a gloating or irritable relative. “If someone is angry at you, you want to see that they’re really feeling hurt and devalued,” Dr. Stosny said.If a family member approaches you with anger, try to respond with compassion. Consider setting a time limit on your political discussions, Dr. Lee said, agreeing in advance to a fun, shared activity when your time is up.Election 2020 More

The Battlegrounds Within Battlegrounds
Many of the places that were critical to President Trump’s victory four years ago will also decide whether he wins a second term or loses to Joseph R. Biden Jr. Let’s take a look at where Mr. Trump’s support was strongest and weakest in the 2016 election.
The most contested battles this year will take place in six states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Mr. Trump won some of them by razor-thin margins.
Within these states are 20 counties that will help decide who wins enough electoral votes to reach the White House. They represent groups of voters both candidates are seeking. Here’s what to watch for in these battlegrounds within battlegrounds.
Let’s start with Florida, a diverse but conservative-leaning state that is almost always close in presidential elections. It’s likely this year’s race will again be decided by a percentage point or two.

Recent polling shows Biden ahead by two points.

202046%48%BidenHere are results of past presidential races.

201649%Trump47%201249%50%Obama200848%51%ObamaMiami-Dade County, Fla. A Democratic stronghold, it is not a county Mr. Trump would hope to win. But this majority-Hispanic county was a disappointment for Democrats in 2018, especially in heavily Cuban-American precincts. Younger Cuban voters have started identifying as Trump Republican here.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201634%63%Clinton201238%62%Obama200842%58%ObamaPinellas County, Fla. Perhaps the biggest swing county in the state, which backed Mr. Trump after twice backing Barack Obama, it is a Florida microcosm: solid Democrats in St. Petersburg and Midwestern retirees elsewhere.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201648%Trump47%201247%52%Obama200845%53%ObamaOsceola County, Fla. Part of the greater Orlando area, it is increasingly Hispanic. Conservative retirees have been joined by hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans, who did not register in expected numbers to give Democrats an advantage in 2018, and so far, are lagging behind other groups in early voting.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201636%60%Clinton201237%62%Obama200840%59%ObamaLet’s look at some critical counties in North Carolina. The state has cities with large communities of Black voters, moderate professionals and college students and also big stretches that are more rural, whiter and conservative.

Recent polling shows Biden ahead by two points.

202047%49%BidenHere are results of past presidential races.

201650%Trump46%201250%Romney48%200849%50%ObamaUnion County, N.C. In 2016, Mr. Trump easily won this suburban Republican bastion near Charlotte. Republicans remain dominant, but signs of disaffection with the president, along with an upswing in “unaffiliated” voters, give Democrats hope they can trim Mr. Trump’s margin.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201663%Trump33%201265%Romney34%200863%McCain36%Wake County, N.C. One of the nation’s fastest-growing counties, Wake has shifted steadily leftward over the past 20 years, supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 by more than 100,000 votes. An influx of out-of-staters since then stands to boost the Democrats even more, potentially offsetting high Republican numbers in rural areas.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201637%57%Clinton201244%55%Obama200842%57%ObamaRobeson County, N.C. A former Democratic stronghold, this economically depressed county went for Mr. Trump in 2016. The prize will likely go to the candidate most popular among the Lumbee Indians, the county’s largest group. Mr. Trump held a rally here in October, and both campaigns pledged to support the tribe’s quest for federal recognition.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201651%Trump47%201241%58%Obama200843%56%ObamaLet’s move on to Pennsylvania, which has two huge Democratic cities, big swaths of formerly Republican suburbs and a deeply conservative rural middle. This year’s election may hinge on this state, one of three that Mr. Trump won by less than one percentage point in 2016.

Recent polling shows Biden ahead by six points.

202045%51%BidenHere are results of past presidential races.

201648.2%Trump47.5%201247%52%Obama200844%55%ObamaWestmoreland County, Pa. Typical of other counties where Mr. Trump outperformed with white working-class voters four years ago, this area near Pittsburgh is where he must win even bigger margins to counter a likely Democratic surge in the suburbs.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201664%Trump33%201261%Romney38%200858%McCain41%Chester County, Pa. Democrats must continue their 2018 midterm surge in this suburban Philadelphia county, especially with college-educated women, or Mr. Trump could carry Pennsylvania again.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201643%52%Clinton201249.2%49.4%Obama200845%54%ObamaErie County, Pa. One of three counties in the state that Mr. Trump flipped in 2016, its mix of a working-class post-industrial economy and rural towns makes it “the oracle of Pennsylvania,” in the words of a Democratic strategist.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201648%Trump46%201241%57%Obama200839%59%ObamaPhiladelphia County, Pa. The big question here is whether Mr. Biden can re-energize Black voters — Democrats’ core supporters — after Hillary Clinton’s lackluster showing in 2016. Mr. Biden will have to boost the numbers to counter Mr. Trump’s margins with rural white voters. The Trump campaign has taken on aggressive tactics, like videotaping voters at ballot drop boxes.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201615%82%Clinton201214%85%Obama200816%83%ObamaMichigan, historically Democratic, provided one of Mr. Trump’s most surprising victories in 2016. He won the state by 0.3 points.

Recent polling shows Biden ahead by eight points.

202043%51%BidenHere are results of past presidential races.

201647.3%Trump47.0%201245%54%Obama200841%57%ObamaMacomb County, Mich. Heavily unionized and mostly white, the state’s third largest county has picked the statewide winner in the last seven elections for governor and president.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201654%Trump42%201248%52%Obama200845%53%ObamaOakland County, Mich. Once solidly Republican, it is a more affluent neighbor of Macomb County and has been trending Democratic. It is a prime example of the changes that are taking place in many of the nation’s suburbs. In 2018, it gave Gov. Gretchen Whitmer the biggest margin for a Democrat in 20 years.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201643%51%Clinton201246%54%Obama200842%56%ObamaKent County, Mich. This traditional Republican stronghold — home to Grand Rapids, where President Gerald Ford was raised — has moved away from the Republican Party in the Trump era.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201648%Trump45%201253%Romney46%200848.8%49.3%ObamaIn Wisconsin, the state’s politics are shaped by the liberal cities of Milwaukee and Madison; the rural north and west of the state; and the affluent and predominantly white suburbs that lie in between.

Recent polling shows Biden ahead by 10 points.

202042%52%BidenHere are results of past presidential races.

201647.2%Trump46.5%201246%53%Obama200842%56%ObamaBrown County, Wis. Among the top counties that will decide the state’s winner is the home of vote-rich Green Bay. It’s a swing county that in 2018 voted for the Republican candidate for governor, Scott Walker, and the Democrat for Senate, Tammy Baldwin. Mr. Trump won blowout margins here compared with Mitt Romney in 2012.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201652%Trump41%201250%Romney49%200845%54%ObamaWaukesha County, Wis. It is the largest of Milwaukee’s suburban counties. Long a Republican stronghold, the county underperformed for Mr. Trump in 2016. Mr. Biden has forged inroads here, but it’s not clear how deep they are.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201660%Trump33%201267%Romney32%200862%McCain37%Dane County, Wis. This is home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and it’s where Democrats surged in an April 2020 race for the State Supreme Court. Nearly as many votes were cast here as in Milwaukee County, even though Dane has less than 60 percent of Milwaukee’s population. Heavy turnout in early voting suggests Mr. Biden is claiming those votes.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201623%70%Clinton201228%71%Obama200826%73%ObamaGrant County, Wis. Emblematic of southwest Wisconsin, it is one of the state’s swingiest regions, where weak partisan identity saw voters shift from Mr. Obama to Mr. Trump.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201651%Trump41%201242%56%Obama200837%61%ObamaOne of the fastest-changing states on the electoral map, Arizona has gone from being a Republican stronghold to a true battleground.

Recent polling shows Biden ahead by four points.

202045%49%BidenHere are results of past presidential races.

201648%Trump45%201254%Romney44%200853%McCain45%Maricopa County, Ariz. Home to Phoenix and more than 60 percent of the state’s electorate, it is Arizona’s most important county. It went narrowly for Mr. Trump in 2016, but two years later supported a Democrat, Kyrsten Sinema, for senator. The question is whether the county’s changing demographics will tip the state to a Democratic president for the first time since 1996.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201648%Trump45%201254%Romney44%200854%McCain44%Pima County, Ariz. The home of Tucson, Democrats typically run up the score here.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201640%53%Clinton201246%53%Obama200846%52%ObamaPinal County, Ariz. The state’s third-largest county is a Republican redoubt. Mr. Trump will have to turn out enough rural white voters to help protect the 3.5-point margin he won the state with in 2016.

Here are results of past presidential races.

201656%Trump37%201257%Romney41%200856%McCain42% More

President Trump’s campaign is raising money for a prolonged political and legal fight long after Nov. 3 and recently began automatically checking a box to withdraw additional weekly contributions from online donors through mid-December — nearly six weeks after Election Day.Predicting “FRAUD like you’ve never seen,” the language on Mr. Trump’s website opts contributors into making the weekly post-election donations “to ensure we have the resources to protect the results and keep fighting even after Election Day.” Users must proactively click to avoid making multiple contributions.The unusual post-election revenue stream would help Mr. Trump pay off any bills that his campaign accumulates before Tuesday — a campaign spokesman said no such debts had been incurred — and could help fund a lengthy legal fight if the results are contested.“This race will be very close, and it is possible that multiple states will require recounts and potential additional spending from our campaign,” said Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s campaign. “The election process this year is under extraordinary circumstances, and we are also anticipating that Silicon Valley will attempt to interfere with our online fund-raising efforts post-election.”Democrats said automatically opting contributors into post-election giving was a misleading tactic.“They’re inventing new deceptive tactics to essentially steal money from people,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic digital strategist with an expertise in fund-raising. “They’re going completely and totally scorched earth on their own supporters. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”Mr. Murtaugh said that no one would receive a “recurring charge without their knowledge” and that donors could opt out of recurring contributions both before donating and afterward. “Three days before each recurring charge, donors are emailed a reminder that the charge is about to occur,” he said. “There is a one-click link inside this email for donors to cancel if they wish. Our process is extremely transparent.”“When the recount or litigation process ends,” Mr. Murtaugh added, “the recurring payments will end.”The extra donations are just the latest hyperaggressive tactic employed by the Trump operation as it struggles to keep up financially with Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign. On Friday, the campaign promised supporters that their contributions would be matched “1000%,” after months of ratcheting up the levels of matches that campaign experts said almost surely do not actually exist. (The Trump campaign declined to say if the matches were real; Mr. Murtaugh said only that it was a “common fund-raising approach” used by both parties)“Today in record-breaking achievements of grift,” Caitlin Mitchell, a top digital strategist for Mr. Biden, wrote mockingly on Twitter of the purported 1,000 percent match. The Biden campaign said it had never offered donation matches.The Trump email, which had two flashing light emojis in the subject line, was one of 21 that blitzed supporters’ accounts on Friday — nearly one per hour — almost all of which asked for money. For comparison, the Biden campaign sent eight emails on Friday.In the final stretch of the 2020 race, Mr. Trump is being dramatically outspent on the airwaves, and as of Oct. 14, his campaign treasury had dwindled to $43.6 million, with $1.2 million in debts. Mr. Biden’s campaign reported $162 million cash on hand that day.Combined with party funds, Mr. Trump had about $224 million, compared with $335 million for Mr. Biden, but party funds cannot be used to pay for many key costs, including campaign personnel and most advertising costs beyond a strict limit. Since then, Mr. Trump’s campaign canceled a net total of about $19 million in reserved television ads, according to data from Advertising Analytics, and the Republican National Committee stepped in to pay for the ads instead, using the limited funds it can spend in coordination with the campaign.Mr. Trump has taken to addressing the financial disadvantage directly at his rallies. “I could have been the greatest political fund-raiser,” he said Saturday in Pennsylvania, saying he had avoided shaking down wealthy interests for more money.“We have plenty,” he said. “You can only buy so many commercials.”It has been a different message to his supporters online, where his campaign has cranked out more frequent and more intense cash solicitations.The Twitter account @TrumpEmail, which has cataloged all of Mr. Trump’s email solicitations for nearly three years, provided The New York Times with access to its database, which shows Mr. Trump’s climbing number of monthly emails this year — from January (63) to May (159) to July (239) to September (330) and roughly 400 in October.Election 2020 More

Dr Chris Kapsner intubated his first Covid patient – a 47-year-old man who arrived short of breath at the emergency room in the Twin Cities – back in April. Now, seven months later, Kapsner, who lives across the border in Wisconsin, is weary and exhausted from the steady stream of patients arriving with a virus that is spreading across this part of the midwest. Hospital beds and PPE are in short supply, and his colleagues are getting sick. “Even if we put up all the field tents in the world, we don’t have the staff for this,” he said.Kasper believes political disfunction at the state level and a “disastrous” federal response are responsible for Wisconsin’s spike in cases. It’s part of the reason he’s running for office.Kapsner is one of at least four healthcare workers who are running for Democratic seats in the Wisconsin state assembly, and one of many in his field who are speaking out against Trump and the GOP’s response to Covid.Wisconsin is in the throes of one of the country’s worst Covid outbreaks. On 27 October, the state reported more than 5,000 new cases and a test-positivity rate of over 27%. Nearly 2,000 people have died, and only the Dakotas are currently reporting more cases per capita.Despite this, Donald Trump has been holding large rallies across the state – three in the last week alone – where crowds gather by the thousands, often without masks. Another Trump rally is planned for Monday in Kenosha, the site of unrest last summer after Jacob Blake was shot in the back by police. Wisconsin is a crucial swing state in Tuesday’s election; Trump carried the state by just 27,000 votes in 2016 and is currently trailing behind Joe Biden in the polls.Last week, a group of 20 doctors sent an open letter to Donald Trump asking him to stop holding rallies in the state. On Thursday, the night before Trump was scheduled to appear in Green Bay, hospitals released a joint statement urging locals to avoid large crowds. Earlier this month, the Trump campaign scuttled plans for a rally in La Crosse, in western Wisconsin, after the city’s mayor asked him not to come amid a spike in cases there. Dr Kristin Lyerly, an Ob/Gyn who practices in Appleton, in eastern Wisconsin, said she struggles to find the right words to describe her anger over the rallies, which have been linked to subsequent coronavirus outbreaks. Last week, at a rally in Waukesha, about 100 miles south of Appleton, Trump falsely accused healthcare workers of inflating the number of Covid cases for financial gain.“His lies are killing my neighbors,” she said.Many of us were shocked that our legislature would put us in danger, and make us decide between our vote and our healthLyerly, who is also running for state assembly, said she spends her days trying to reassure terrified pregnant patients, while fearing that she might contract the virus herself. She and her colleagues are overwhelmed. She keeps her PPE in her car to ensure she never goes without it. “We’ve completely forgotten about the human impact on our healthcare workers. Our healthcare workers are exhausted, they’re burned out and they feel entirely disrespected,” she said.Lyerly said she decided to run for office in April, after the Republican-controlled state assembly refused to postpone a statewide election, in which the Democratic presidential primary and a key state supreme court seat were on the ballot. The state GOP also stymied efforts to make it easier for Wisconsinites to vote by mail.“As a physician, I think many of us were shocked that our legislature would put us in danger, and make us decide between our vote and our health,” she said. She’s running in a district that typically leans conservative, but said that her campaign’s latest polls put her within the margin of error of her opponent, an incumbent.Dr Robert Freedland, an ophthalmologist in south-western Wisconsin and state lead for the Committee to Protect Medicare, signed the letter asking Trump to stop holding rallies in Wisconsin. He wanted to go on the record as having spoken out in the name of public health.Freedland, who is 65 and has type II diabetes, said he fears for his health when he goes to work. Dr Jeff Kushner, a cardiologist who also signed the letter, said he hasn’t been able to work since March due to the pandemic. Kushner, 65, has non-Hodgkins lymphoma and is on immunosuppressants. “If I got Covid, I wouldn’t survive,” he said.Though he follows politics closely, Kushner said he’s not “politically involved” and that he tends to keep his politics to himself and a close inner circle. But he said he doesn’t consider signing the letter to Trump a political act. “It’s a statement of what I believe about our society’s health and not a political statement,” he said. “It wasn’t an anti-Trump letter, we were just saying, ‘Please don’t have these super-spreader events in our state.’”Kapsner, the emergency room doctor in north-western Wisconsin, said he still speaks with patients and voters who doubt the severity of Covid-19. “My job isn’t to shame them,” he said. “There are many people out here who have had the good fortune of not being personally affected by Covid. Their friends or families haven’t had it yet – I fear their luck is going to run out.” More