“Ohio’s polling places are closed on what was to have been the state’s presidential primary, following an overnight ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. “The Ohio Supreme Court effectively allowed the election to be postponed from March 17 in a remarkable early-morning decision.”
Earlier, a judge denied an attempt to delay Ohio’s primary election due to coronavirus, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. “He said it was too late — 12 hours out from polls opening — to make such a momentous decision, especially since the state couldn’t guarantee that June would be any safer.”
But after that ruling, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced late Monday that polls will be closed on Tuesday for the presidential primary election, citing a “health emergency” tied to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. And the Ohio Supreme Court declined to overrule DeWine.
Joe Biden is the apparent winner of Washington’s Democratic primary, NBC News reported Monday, chalking up another victory in a string of recent upsets over Sen. Bernie Sanders.
A new Marist poll in Ohio finds Joe Biden edging President Trump in a general election match up, 49% to 45%.
A new Marist poll in Arizona finds Joe Biden edging President Trump in a general election match up, 47% to 46%.
In the U.S. Senate race, Mark Kelly (D) leads Sen. Martha McSally (R), 48% to 45%.
“Bernie Sanders’ path to the Democratic nomination is closing, but a quick exit is far from guaranteed — even if he gets wiped out Tuesday. From his debate posture to staffing moves to the ‘virtual rally’ he convened Monday evening, the Vermont senator is signaling that he may not be ready to concede,” Politico reports.
“If Sanders remains in the race, it will be in part to keep his ‘political revolution’ alive. According to people familiar with his thinking, Sanders will not only consider what’s best for his campaign, but also the progressive movement.”
“Many of Sanders’ aides and allies also expect him to press onward after Tuesday. They see a benefit in amassing as many delegates as possible in order to influence the party platform at the Democratic National Convention this summer — even if Sanders himself can’t win the nomination.”
A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll finds just 37% of Americans now say they had a good amount or a great deal of trust in what they’re hearing from President Trump, while 60% say they had not very much or no trust at all in what he’s saying.
“Kentucky delayed its primary election on Monday, becoming the latest state to take the step to curb the spread of the coronavirus,” CNBC reports.
“The state will move its nominating contest to June 23 from the originally planned May 19, Secretary of State Michael Adams announced. He said he made the decision with Gov. Andy Beshear during what he called ‘unprecedented times.’”
TPM: “Arizona’s top election officials have been enmeshed in a legal fracas surrounding mail-in voting after the state’s most populous county announced 78 poll closures just days before its primary. The state lacked sufficient cleaning supplies to keep all the locations open amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The remaining 151 polling places will all be considered vote centers, meaning that voters can cast a ballot at any of the sites no matter their precinct.
But that wasn’t enough for Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, who announced Friday that he’d try to mitigate the damage of so severely cutting the number of polling locations by mailing out ballots to all registered Democrats.
However, as both Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs would soon point out, Fontes only had the power under the law to send out ballots to those on the early voting list or those who requested a ballot — sending Fontes’ attempt to its death at the hands of a judge.”
The New York State Board of Elections is considering pushing back the state’s presidential primary election date of April 28 as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Board co-chair Douglas Kellner told the New York Times on Sunday that state officials may move the elections to June 23. However, it would be up New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the New York State Legislature to approve the change, according to Kellner.
Nothing has been officially decided yet.
I just wrote this to Mayor Clifton and Councilman Hamilton
“I am so happy to read that Newark is mailing everyone in the voting districts a ballot for the April election.
I have shared this best practice with the Lt. Governor in a recent email as an extra to our discussion :
And since I have your attention, let’s convince the Governor to act soon on the elections. Perhaps postpone the April primary to early June and set allowance now for No Excuse Absentee voting for the regular Primary, the General, and even the Presidential Primary so the Dept of Elections can prepare.
And I tried to get a response from the Governor via his Q and A last night but my question was never addressed: “What is the state planning with regard to the coming elections?” using Newark’s decision as an example of what I hoped DE would do.
I also posed the issue on facebook:
Newark is handling the city elections PERFECTLY. The state needs to step up and let us vote by mail this year.
“The City Secretary’s Office is encouraging registered voters in Districts 3 and 5 to vote using absentee ballots for the April 14th City Council election. Absentee ballots are being mailed to all registered voters in districts 3 and 5 in the coming days. Contact citysecretary@newark.de.us for more information.”
Former Newark resident and Common Cause Lobbyist Jennifer Hill responded:
Jennifer A Hill I’ve been suggesting this since the budget hearing in February. No plan other than sanitizing the screen between each voter has been articulated. Which is not a plan at all.
……..I’ve sent a second email to Gov and speakers staff, election Commissioner. Asking for multiple steps be taken, implement early voting now, allow absentee and vote by Mail. I agree postponing the primary could work since we have time. Thanks for working in this.
And the State DEM Party Ex. Director Jesse Chadderton responded:
Jesse Chadderdon I had a very productive conversation with Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence last week and we will be continuing that dialogue and pulling in other parties as appropriate to determine a responsible path forward within a reasonable time frame. As you know, in Delaware our primary is run by the Department of Elections and not the State Party, but Anthony has proven to be an incredibly responsive and thoughtful leader and I’m very hopeful we will be able to do right by the voters of this state while protecting our communities.
I hope you both will join me in engaging the Governor and the Dept. of Elections with a request to make the appropriate changes to the process so we have No Excuse Absentee Voting by mail to lessen the crowds for all of the 2020 elections and to postpone the Presidential Primary to June.
Nancy”
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And will leave you with these tweets
https://twitter.com/jamisonfoser/status/1239951424810668032
Announcements that primaries are postponed should be accompanied by details about what the state is doing to move to universal vote by mail for November.
https://twitter.com/JustinAHorwitz/status/1239748016724226048
Illinois is closing down polling locations across the state but still having the election tomorrow. Why? Why are we forcing more people into locations with higher concentrations of people in order to vote? It’s LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE of what you would do to curb the spread.