Coronavirus fears caused staffing issues at Super Tuesday polling sites in Texas
Check back for live updates from across the country as more than a dozen states head to vote.
AUSTIN, Texas – The Travis County, Texas, clerk’s office said fears of catching the new coronavirus are causing chaos at voting locations across the county at the start of Super Tuesday.
Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said 11 people, including judges who were responsible for opening some of the 175 polling locations across the county Tuesday, did not show up for work out of fear of catching the new coronavirus. DeBeauvoir said this was on top of the 31 judges who also said last week they would not come to operate the polls out of fear of catching the virus or another sickness.
“A significant number of election judges called up and said they quit,” DeBeauvoir said. “They had a variety of excuses. They just decided they did not want to do this and decided the news was scaring them, so last night we were on the phone with the parties trying to get more workers.”
DeBeauvoir said it usually takes six, but no less than three, judges and poll workers to operate just one polling location. The county clerk’s Office worked all morning to find replacements, however, while they were doing so other workers were also abandoning their posts once they realized there were not enough workers to open for voting.
As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, DeBeauvoir said Travis County had 164 vacancies after using up all of its emergency backup workers. However, all of the polling locations were now back open and running, according to the county clerk.
– Heather Osbourne, Austin American-Statesman
Fatal tornadoes delay Super Tuesday voting in parts of Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Super Tuesday voting started an hour late in Nashville and nearby Wilson County, Tennessee, due to extensive tornado damage across the region.
Polls in those locations will now open at 8 a.m. CST, according to the Tennessee secretary of state. They will still close as scheduled at 7 p.m. CST.
Nashville election officials announced several alternate polling sites to accommodate the damage.
The tornado, spawned from a deadly Middle Tennessee storm, touched down in Nashville early Tuesday morning, carving a path of destruction for miles across the city.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said that nine people had died in the storms in a news conference Tuesday morning. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said tornadoes hit more than 40 buildings.
Live Super Tuesday results:Get up-to-date primary results
Voting locations in Alabama were also affected by tornadoes. Poll workers outside Birmingham were forced to seek shelter as they began opening doors to voters. The storm knocked out electricity and downed trees, but the precinct’s two voting machines had battery backups.
Voting in Super Tuesday, when 14 states and one U.S. territory cast their primary ballots, began early Tuesday morning, with voters heading to the polls across the country. Super Tuesday is a decisive day for the 2020 presidential primary because roughly a third of the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination are up for grabs.
– Adam Tamburin, Tennesseean; Associated Press
Biden faces a big Super Tuesday test with Latino voters
Joe Biden’s chances of staying competitive with Bernie Sanders after Super Tuesday may rest on whether he can broaden his support with Hispanic voters who have so far gravitated overwhelmingly toward the Vermont senator.
In California and Texas, the two biggest prizes in the bonanza of Super Tuesday contests, about 30% of eligible voters are Latino.
Recent polls taken before Biden’s big win in South Carolina Saturday show Sanders has nearly three times the support among Latino Democrats in California as Biden and a 12 percentage-point lead over Biden with Latino Democrats in Texas.
Biden’s Super Tuesday test:Biden faces big test with Latino voters on Super Tuesday as he seeks to cut into Sanders’ strength
“Sanders is going to get a delegate lead. It’s just a question of how much,” said Kyle Kondik, an analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “If Biden can accumulate support and prevent Sanders’ support among Hispanics from going up as candidates drop out, then it becomes more doable.”
– Maureen Groppe, Rebecca Morin, John C. Moritz and Rebecca Plevin
Just how important is Super Tuesday
About a third of the delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination are up for grabs in the voting bonanza known as Super Tuesday.
To put it in perspective, there were 155 pledged delegates available in the race’s first four contests, which were the obsession of the candidates, voters, pundits and political prognosticators for the month of February. On Super Tuesday, 1,344 delegates are for the taking – as well as 13 delegates representing Americans abroad, who have a week to vote beginning Tuesday.
Super Tuesday:A state-by-state breakdown of what to watch for on Super Tuesday, where 15 contests are up for grabs
If a candidate can secure 1,991 or more of the 3,979 delegates available in all the primary contests before the Democratic National Convention on July 13, the nomination is theirs.
Those numbers help explain why billionaire media mogul Mike Bloomberg decided to skip Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to focus his half-billion-dollar advertising blitz on the March 3 states.
– William Cummings
Welcome to Super Tuesday
WASHINGTON – Super Tuesday is finally upon us.
Fourteen states and one U.S. territory will be voting Tuesday, accounting for more than 30% of the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.
And what a wild few days it has been.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is looking to continue his momentum after a blowout win in South Carolina Saturday. Also working in his favor? Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former mayor Pete Buttigieg, both seen as competitors for more centrist voters, have dropped out since Saturday, and thrown their support behind the former vice president.
Live Super Tuesday Results:Follow live results from all of the Super Tuesday contests
But Biden faces an uphill battle against Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has been the frontrunner thus far in the campaign. Sanders leads the national delegate race and also leads polling in several key states, including California and Texas — two of the largest states with the most delegates up for grabs. Sanders has campaigned heavily in those states since winning the Nevada caucuses.
More:A state-by-state breakdown of what to watch for on Super Tuesday
Biden, however, focused much of his campaign efforts in South Carolina. He is now playing catch up with Sanders and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who opted out of competing in the early voting states to focus on Super Tuesday states. But Bloomberg has yet to win a single national delegate and was attacked harshly by his fellow candidates in two recent debates.
California primary:How the Golden State vote could make — or break — presidential hopefuls left standing
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is also looking to make a splash, after slowly losing momentum over the past several weeks. She placed third in Iowa first-in-the-nation caucuses, but hasn’t placed in the top 3 since. But Warren has repeatedly said her campaign is built for the long haul and she might be looking to ride the race out until the convention in July.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard also remains in the race, though she has not won any delegates thus far and is polling in the low single digits.