Health chief halts Ohio primary, others still on
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s health director was set to order polls closed just hours before they were to open there and in three other states for presidential primaries, the governor said late Monday amid a coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed the nation.
Gov. Mike DeWine said Health Director Amy Acton would declare a health emergency and order the polls closed for fears of exposing volunteer poll workers — many of them elderly — to the virus. Arizona, Florida and Illinois were proceeding with their presidential primaries.
DeWine failed to get a judge to halt the primary Monday evening, even though the governor contended the election results wouldn’t be viewed as legitimate in light of the pandemic.
Ohio’s governor and secretary of state had supported the lawsuit by voters seeking a delay in the primary until June 2, in the hope that the outbreak subsides by then. Ohio Judge Richard Frye ruled against the motion Monday night because he didn’t want to rewrite the law, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Elsewhere, Georgia already postponed next week’s primary, and Louisiana has postponed its scheduled April 4 primary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said late Monday the state believes the election can proceed safely.
Arizona’s governor and secretary of state also said Monday they did not want to postpone the election.
In Illinois, elections board spokesman Matt Dietrich said in a statement late Monday that the state’s primary will move forward.
He said Gov. J.B. Pritzker does not have the power to order the date moved and does not intend to ask a court to do so.
“We believe that by following guidance from our state and federal health professionals, voters can vote safely,” Dietrich said.
In Arizona, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said she will not make an effort to delay the election. She said she came to the decision in consultation with county election officials, health authorities and the Democratic Party.
“What it all comes down to is that we have no guarantee that there will be a safer time to hold this election in the future,” Hobbs said during a news conference in Phoenix alongside Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and other state officials.
Turnout at the polling places is already expected to be light Tuesday.
Add in that the states were pushing early voting and voteby-mail even before the outbreak and many fewer voters are expected to appear Tuesday at their neighborhood precinct.
The states are taking steps to limit voter and poll worker exposure to the coronavirus.
In Florida and Arizona, the states moved polling places located in nursing homes and assisted living facilities to avoid exposing the residents to outsiders.
DeSantis said he is allowing Florida’s election to proceed unabated because “there is no need to panic” and can be done safely.
He said most voters will only be in the polling place for a few minutes with only the presidential race on the ballot in most Florida cities.