Georgia and Louisiana Postpone Primaries Amidst Coronavirus Fears
Richard Moorhead
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Georgia and Louisiana state officials have suspended their upcoming presidential primaries amidst fears of the Chinese coronavirus.
Georgia is moving its presidential primary to May 19th instead of March 24th. Louisiana is moving its primary to June 20th from April 4th.
Other state secretaries are declining to change dates of presidential primaries, despite fears over the mass gatherings that primary elections often entail. Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio are all holding their primaries as scheduled, on March 17th.
A round of Biden wins in the four big states to vote on Tuesday could effectively end the Democratic primary campaign, perhaps opening up the possibility for upcoming primary states to suspend their primaries for fear of the virus.
But, some are questioning the decision to go ahead with holding elections admits a national panic over the coronavirus.
One third of the polling places in Arizona’s Maricopa County will be closed on account of a lack of sanitation supplies to clean them. An official for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office had something of a nervous breakdown when speaking of his agency’s plans to safeguard Arizona citizens from becoming infected with coronavirus while voting in the primary, walking off stage at a press conference and stating that “I can’t do this.”
While announcing that over a third of polling locations in Maricopa County, AZ will be closed, the Election Day Director says "I'm sorry, I can't do this." and walks off the podium. Notice his nervous demeanor. ????♀️????♀️????♀️
pic.twitter.com/X3AA995MaO— Fiorella Isabel (@Fiorella_im) March 14, 2020
The coronavirus could ultimately serve to drive down primary election turnout levels to historic lows.
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