The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Democrat primaries in chaos as states scrap votes over fears of virus spread
USA: Biden still the frontrunner over Sanders to become presidential choice
The Democratic presidential primary has become shrouded in uncertainty after Ohio called off yesterday’s election just hours before polls were set to open due to the coronavirus.
Officials in Florida, Arizona and Illinois, however, said they would move forward with the vote as planned.
Not since New York City postponed its mayoral primary on the day of the September 11 2001 attacks has an election been postponed in such a highprofile way.
Ohio governor Mike DeWine initially asked a court to delay the vote. When a judge refused to do so, the state’s health director declared a health emergency that would prevent the polls from opening.
The contests are playing out as the impact of the virus becomes more tangible, with schools closing across the country, workers staying home and restaurants and bars shutting.
The rapidly shifting developments amounted to a kind of chaos rarely seen in an election season. And it may not end soon as some states that have presidential contests in the coming weeks have already moved to postpone them.
Campaign workers spent Monday sifting through data and talking to contacts on the ground to assess the impact of the coronavirus on turnout in places that were holding elections yesterday.
Former vice-president Joe Biden is moving closer to securing the Democratic presidential nomination, but could face a setback if the older voters who tend to support him do not show up.
His rival, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, cannot afford to lose support from young voters, who have been his most loyal supporters.
The tumult has left the campaign in a state of suspended animation. In-person rallies have been replaced with sometimes-awkward virtual events.
Mr Sanders, the last Democrat standing between Biden and the nomination, is not planning to drop out.
His campaign looked to have nowhere to go after a loss last week in Michigan, and another blow landed on Monday night when Mr Biden was declared the winner of the primary in Washington state, giving him victories in five out of six states that voted last Tuesday.
Yet Mr Sanders’s advisers see no downside to staying in the race as they assess how coming days and weeks unfold.
Mr Sanders staged a virtual rally on Monday night featuring himself, rocker Neil Young and activist actress Daryl Hannah.
He also released a video criticising Mr Biden for suggesting as a senator that he would be willing to cut social security benefits – a line of attack he employed frequently during Sunday’s debate.
“I don’t have to tell anybody that we are living in a very unprecedented and strange moment in the history of our country,” Mr Sanders said, urging supporters that it may be time to “rethink our value system, rethink many of the systems we operate under”.