OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Research led by UW-Oshkosh economists indicates “a significant association” between in-person voting and the spread of COVID-19 two to three weeks after Wisconsin’s primary election on April 7.
The paper by UWO economists Chad Cotti, Bryan Engelhardt and Joshua Foster, in collaboration with colleagues at Ball State University, was posted with the National Bureau of Economic Research online this week.
The team analyzed county-level data from the state of Wisconsin.
“Our results confirm the Wisconsin Department of Health Services findings on the link between the spread of COVID-19 and voting using testing and tracing methods,” Engelhardt said. “However, the tracing investigation undertaken was not comprehensive, and our results indicate a much larger potential relationship.”
The research showed that counties that had more in-person voters per location, like Brown County and Milwaukee County—with all else being equal—had a higher rate of positive COVID-19 tests than counties with relatively fewer in-person voters.
“Furthermore, we find a consistent negative relationship between absentee voting and the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Similar to patterns with in-person voting, this association appears two to three weeks after the election and persists across a number of specification tests, but it is not observed in the week prior to the election,” Engelhardt explained.
“Given these results, it may be prudent that policy makers and election clerks take steps to expand the number of polling locations or encourage absentee voting for future elections during the pandemic,” Engelhard said.
On Monday, Advocates for people with disabilities and minority voters in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit, asking a judge to make elections safer for voters and poll workers in the aftermath of COVID-19.
