Officials: Keep vote helpers out of Wisconsin nursing homes

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin election officials don’t want to send special deputies into nursing homes to help residents vote in November.

The state Elections Commission decided in March to keep special voting deputies out of nursing homes to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Commissioner Robert Spindell directed staff last week to research whether deputies could reenter the homes to help residents vote absentee in November.

But commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe warned in a memo to commissioners that the risk of deputies spreading the coronavirus among facility residents is still too great. The commission was set to consider the memo Thursday but the meeting was postponed.