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Posted: 2020-04-07T20:20:01Z | Updated: 2020-04-07T20:20:01Z

Republicans across the country are resisting efforts to help people vote without jeopardizing public safety during the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic has hit the United States right in the middle of the primary election season. A number of states including ones with Republicans in charge have responded by postponing elections or trying to make it easier for voters to cast ballots through the mail, so that they dont get sick.

But other Republicans have used the virus as an opportunity to further restrict voting access.

Theyve blocked vote-by-mail measures, openly complaining that such initiatives would mean more people could vote.

Theyve created commissions to crack down on supposed voter fraud.

And theyve pushed legislation putting up more hurdles for people to vote.

Wisconsin is going ahead with its primary election on Tuesday, despite warnings from public health officials and widespread concerns from poll workers that they will catch or spread the coronavirus .

On Monday, Republicans challenged the Democratic governors attempt to postpone the election . The conservative majority on the state Supreme Court sided with the GOP legislators . On the same day, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court refused to extend the deadline to submit absentee ballots in Wisconsin, another win for the GOP in the state and the Republican National Committee.

Every one of the liberal justices dissented, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warning of massive disenfranchisement.

A voter cannot deliver for postmarking a ballot she has not received. Yet tens of thousands of voters who timely requested ballots are unlikely to receive them by April 7, the Courts postmark deadline, she wrote.

The day was a massive win for conservatives, who have been laser-focused on grabbing control over the judicial system and have worked for years in Wisconsin to maintain GOP control.

And not coincidentally, one of the down-ballot elections happening Tuesday is a state Supreme Court race that could, potentially, reduce the conservative majority from 5-2 on the bench to 4-3. High turnout was believed to potentially hurt the conservative incumbent, Daniel Kelly, because the election falls on the same day as a Democratic presidential primary meaning more liberal-leaning voters would likely be coming out.

Wisconsin has received the most attention in recent days, but other attempts to suppress voter turnout are happening around the nation.