Ohio's Leader Tries to Push Primary Vote, With No Luck

The governor, Mike DeWine, said Monday afternoon that he did not have the authority to unilaterally delay the primary and that a lawsuit would be filed to move the election to June 2. On Monday evening, Judge Richard A. Frye of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas rejected the request.

It was not immediately clear if the election would go forward Tuesday. Officials in Ohio did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they would appeal the decision or open polls Tuesday morning.

“Under these extraordinary circumstances, it simply isn’t possible to hold an election tomorrow that will be considered legitimate by Ohioans,” DeWine said in a statement Monday night, after the judge rejected the request. “They mustn’t be forced to choose between their health and exercising their constitutional rights.”

Officials in Ohio had said as recently as Sunday that they would go forward with primary voting, but DeWine indicated that they became increasingly worried about the safety of polling sites after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against gatherings of 50 or more people.

Elections officials in the three other states scheduled to vote Tuesday — Arizona, Illinois and Florida — said Monday after DeWine’s announcement that they planned to proceed with their elections.

“We are fortunate to have numerous options in Florida to cast our ballots safely and securely,” Laurel Lee, the secretary of state, said at a news conference. She added that more than 2 million ballots had already been cast through early in-person voting and vote by mail.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida added that he was committed to holding the elections, saying, “The fact of the matter is, these things can be done in a way where you’re not going to have crowds.”

In Arizona, the state Democratic Party was seeing huge turnout in the form of early mail-in ballots, said Matt Grodsky, a party spokesman. “We believe that delaying the election would cause undue chaos to this election process,” he said.

Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, said that “we have no guarantee that there will be a safer time to hold this election in the near future,” adding, “The longer we wait, the more difficult and dangerous it could become.”

Kentucky, by contrast, announced Monday that it was delaying its primary from May 19 to June 23. The announcement was made by Kentucky’s secretary of state, Michael Adams, in a video statement on Twitter.

“Postponing the primary was not an easy decision, but the Republican secretary of state and Democratic governor agreed, and so do county clerks from both parties,” Adams said. “My hope is that this delay will allow us to have a normal election. Even if not, this delay will allow me, the state board of elections and our county clerks time to assess what changes we must make to ensure a successful primary election.”

The proposed new date for the Kentucky primary, June 23, would fall outside the June 9 deadline set by the Democratic National Committee to hold all nominating contests, and could result in a loss of delegates.

The moves to postpone elections Monday came days after elections officials in Louisiana and then Georgia said they would push back their upcoming primary elections in response to the outbreak. On Friday, Louisiana announced that its April 4 election would be postponed by more than two months, to June 20; Georgia followed suit a day later, saying it would reschedule its March 24 contest for May 19.

In Ohio, DeWine said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation Sunday against gatherings of more than 50 people meant that the state could not hold its election and comply.

Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for former Vice President Joe Biden, said in a statement after DeWine’s afternoon announcement, “We will follow the guidance offered by state public health officials for how to best ensure their populations are looked after while encouraging participation in our democracy.” Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign declined to comment.

The uncertainty in Ohio added yet another logistical speed bump to a presidential primary that has already been upended by concerns that voting could worsen a public health crisis.

Several other states have said they were changing or considering making changes to their voting processes and procedures in response to the outbreak. Wyoming suspended the in-person portion of its Democratic caucuses, allowing residents to either vote by mail or drop off their ballots at a county polling location instead.

Postponements are highly unusual in American political campaigns, but not entirely unprecedented. States have broad autonomy to shape various aspects of their primary elections, including determining the timing.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .