Mike D’Orio sets up electronic equipment in the gym at Brookfield Elementary School, where several Brookfield precincts vote. His work could be for naught as Gov. DeWine said he will seek to delay the election set for Tuesday, March 17, until June 2.
Gov. Mike DeWine said he will seek to delay the primary election scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, out of concern that people might not go to the polls due to contracting the coronavirus.
DeWine said he does not have the authority to delay or suspend the election, but a lawsuit will be filed in Franklin County seeking that outcome. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said he will direct Attorney General Dave Yost not to contest that suit.
DeWine said in a briefing today, March 16, that he does not want voters to have to choose between their health and exercising their constitutional rights.
“This is in the best interest of Ohioans and the safety of Ohioans,” LaRose said. “I believe that.”
If the effort to delay the primary election is successful, votes cast by early voting and absentee ballot will be held and not counted until after the in-person voting is held, tentatively set for June 2, DeWine said.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said officials had talked to poll workers and long-time voters and many were “scared” for their health. Many voters who had voted consistently over the years were prepared to sit this one out, Husted said.
Dr. Amy Acton, Ohio director of health, said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases stood at 50. Officials have said two people in Trumbull County have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“We are the unslope of this curve,” Acton said of the growing number of cases.
Trumbull County Board of Elections had been proceeding with holding the election Tuesday.
A crew setting up voting machines, work tables and computers and other machines at Brookfield Local School District, where several of Brookfield’s precincts vote, explained the precautions that poll workers would undertake before and after voters arrive.
Bob Moody, supervisor of the crew, said poll workers wipe down all equipment with alcohol-based sprays and rags.
Alcohol wipes would be available for cleaning pens and anything that people would touch throughout the day, he said.
At the time, Moody said he hoped people would not feel afraid to vote. He noted that early voting had been popular at the board of elections office in Warren.
