Democratic convention will be postponed, DNC confirms
The Democratic National Committee has confirmed the party’s nominating convention will be postponed until mid-August amid concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
The convention is one of the most high profile events of the 2020 election calendar, and is where the party’s presidential candidate is selected. The week-long event is now due begin on 17 August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one week before the Republican convention.
“Leadership means being able to adapt, and that’s exactly what our party is doing,” DNC chairman Tom Perez said in a statement.
“Ultimately, the health and safety of our convention attendees and the people of Milwaukee is our top priority. And we will continue to be in contact with local, state, and federal health officials as we monitor this fluid situation.”
Joe Biden, frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said on Tuesday it was “hard to envision” that the Democratic national convention could continue as planned in July in Milwaukee due to the outbreak.
Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, Biden said the country had previously managed to hold elections “in the middle of the civil war all the way through to world war two” but acknowledged this election cycle “may have to be different”.
“We should listen to the scientists,” he responded when asked whether it was safe for party leaders to gather for the convention, which had been slated for 13 July.
Biden’s rival, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who trails Biden by a wide margin, this week called for Wisconsin to delay its primary election next week due to the coronavirus pandemic, saying people “should not be forced to put their lives on the line” to cast their vote for their preferred presidential candidate.
Sanders has faced increasing calls to drop out of the race, as Biden maintains a wide lead in pledged delegates. But Sanders insisted there is a narrow path to winning the nomination.
More than 12 states that were due to hold votes in March or April have already postponed or adapted their primaries in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which cautions against gatherings of more than 50 people to help curb the spread of the virus.
But while Wisconsin has ordered its residents to stay at home, closed nonessential businesses, and placed a ban on “public and private gatherings of any number of people”, it has not yet postponed its elections on Tuesday 7 April, despite coming under heavy criticism.
“People should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote,” Sanders, the Vermont senator, said in a statement. “The state should delay Tuesday’s vote, extend early voting and work to move entirely to vote-by-mail.”
Local election clerks across the state told the AP that poll workers were “quitting in droves out of fears of contracting the coronavirus”. Wisconsin is also staging a state supreme court race and hundreds of local races.
More than 100 municipalities have reported a lack of staff to fill even one polling site.
Wisconsin’s governor, Tony Evers, told a federal judge that he will use members of the state’s army national guard to help as poll workers, but even that move will probably not fill the deficit.
Governor Evers submitted the brief on Tuesday as US district judge William Conley considered three lawsuits seeking to postpone the election. Conley is scheduled to hear testimony on Wednesday afternoon.
Evers and Republican legislative leaders have wanted to keep the Tuesday date, arguing postponement could leave countless local offices vacant.
But the two sides have sparred over how to conduct the election, including whether to relax photo ID requirements to make the absentee voting process easier.
The DNC, the state Democratic party and a group of liberal organizations each filed lawsuits last month arguing that in-person voting should be postponed until after the state’s stay-athome order expires on 24 April.
The order prohibits non-essential activities to slow the virus’s spread. According to a live database from John Hopkins University, 14 people have died from the virus in Wisconsin.
Milwaukee has the highest number of deaths. Nearly a dozen people have died in the city and there are more than 700 confirmed cases.
Evers said the concentration of cases in a largely African American part of the city constituted “a crisis within a crisis”. The CDC has dispatched a team to understand why the state’s coronavirus deaths were concentrated mainly on the city’s north side.
State and city leaders had already expressed concern that the future of the state’s primary and the DNC were in jeopardy.
“We are looking at options and waiting for the DNC to make decisions,” Meg Andrietsch, secretary of the Democratic party of Wisconsin, told the Journal Times.
Wisconsin state representative, David Bowen, was the first state lawmaker to be diagnosed with the virus.
Biden has rebuffed calls to cancel or postpone the general election, but has conceded “it may be virtual”.