Handwashing stations set up in Hudson ahead of Tuesday’s special congressional election
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Voters will head to the polls in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday for a special election between Democrat Tricia Zunker and Republican Tom Tiffany.
GOP Congressman Sean Duffy resigned his seat, which created the special election to see who will fill the remainder of the term.
“It’s crazy,” said Becky Eggen, city clerk for Hudson. “A month in between is not a lot of time.”
It’s the second election for some Wisconsin residents in the matter of a month.
“We’re taking precautions and keeping it more clean and sterile,” Eggen said. “We have washing stations at the door, we ask everyone to wash their hands before they come in."
The city of Hudson received protective and cleaning supplies from the Wisconsin Elections Officials and the National Guard for Tuesday’s vote due to COVID-19 concerns.
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"I feel we got more this time than we did in April,” Eggen said.
Ten Guard members will be at Hudson’s polls while other service members will be positioned at other polls around the 7th District to help local election staff.
Virtual Race For Congress
The campaign trail went online due to COVID-19 in the race between Zunker and Tiffany.
“We’ve had a number of virtual events and so many phone calls, I don’t think we could be campaigning any harder in the virtual world," Zunker said.
“When you can’t go out and shake hands and find groups of people to meet, it’s truly unusual but we’ve adapted to it,” Tiffany said.
Those who would like to learn more about Zunker and Tiffany can do so at their campaign websites.
With just one race on the ballot, state election officials said more than 25% of registered voters in the district have requested absentee ballots.
“Shocked at the number of absentee that we got,” said Eggen, Hudson’s city clerk. “I don’t know what to expect, I did order more ballots.”
The winner of the race will then head immediately to Washington to be sworn into office.
The polls are open between 7 a.m and 8 p.m on Tuesday.