Florida election officials defend decision to maintain in-person primary voting
Check back for updates throughout the day from across the country as three states head to the polls amid the coronavirus pandemic.
After some Florida polling sites opened late Tuesday, Florida election officials defended their decision to press forward with its presidential primaries amid a global coronavirus pandemic.
Secretary of State Laurel Lee said one precinct in Broward County opened late but was “up and running,” The Tallahassee Democrat reported, and there were “isolated precincts in Palm Beach County that have had some challenges.”
“All other counties reported on-time opening of all voting locations around the state,” she said.
Lee said voters who did not want to go to polling sites over health concerns could pick up vote-by-mail ballots and turn them in by 7 p.m. EDT.
A group of civils rights organizations, including the New Florida Majority, LatinoJustice and Dream Defenders, sued Lee and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in federal court Monday, seeking to extend vote-by-mail deadlines through March 27, to allow people concerned about going to precincts a chance to vote.
— Joey Garrison and The Tallahassee Democrat
Voting advocates say coronavirus led to chaos, maybe not lower turnout
WASHINGTON – Democratic primary voters in Florida, Illinois and Arizona found some confusion at polling places that moved or closed because of coronavirus, but voting advocates said Tuesday that turnout might still eclipse the 2016 primary.
Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director of the advocacy group All Voting Is Local, said concerns about coronavirus prompted officials to close polling places, which confused voters about where to go. In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, the number of polling places dropped from 240 to 151, but anyone who is registered could vote at any of them.
But while in-person voting was running low at about 20% of expectations, more people voted already by mail than in 2016, Gulotta said.
“We’ve had enormous turnout by mail,” he said. “Turnout has been very low today, but overall, voting is more than 2016.”
Jay Young, executive director of Common Cause Illinois, said problems emerged early with election judges who didn’t show up and polling places closed. Poll workers complained about a lack of wipes or hand sanitizer, he said.
“Here in Illinois, it’s been a hectic and trying day,” he said, with in-person turnout running about one-third the rate of previous primaries.
Liza McClenaghan, board chair for Common Cause Florida, said a number of poll workers in Palm Beach County didn’t report to work Tuesday. Some had keys to polling places, which prevented them opening, and others had keys to equipment, which prevented using them, she said.
The county invited voters to visit one of four election offices, or to mail in ballots. But McClenaghan said elderly voters have been asking where to vote as they discovered closed polling places and were suspicious of having mail-in ballots delivered by strangers.
“We’ve had a dog’s breakfast about information for poll closings,” McClenaghan said. “We hope things improve shortly.”
Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, said the challenges in the primaries will give election officials an opportunity to find remedies such as allowing more mail-in voting by the November election.
“Today we’re faced with a challenge unlike anything we’ve seen in our 50 years of advocacy, a global pandemic where all 50 states have now declared a state of emergency,” she said.
– Bart Jansen
Florida deals with poll-worker shortage, closed voting sites due to coronavirus
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Palm Beach County, Florida faced a shortage in poll workers Tuesday morning as Florida held its presidential primary amid the nation’s coronavirus pandemic.
Some voters found closed doors when they arrived at their voting sites, The Palm Beach Post reported. Some locations opened late but others remained closed, prompting officials to allow voters pick up vote-by-mail ballots at any of the county’s election offices.
Ahead of Election Day, around 800 poll workers notified Palm Beach elected officials they would not work because of concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak, leaving nearly 3,000 workers to cover Palm Beach County’s 454 voting sites.
Penny Powell of West Palm Beach told The Post she went to her polling place, Pine Jog Environmental Center, to find it closed. She said a park worker sent her to the Supervisor of Elections’ main office, where she was able to vote.
“They’re both close to each other so it wasn’t out of the way,” she said. “So I’m good with it.” She did not know why her location was not open.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is heavily favored to defeat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Florida’s Democratic presidential primary. But turnout is a major wild card, particularly with the possibility it could disproportionately dissuade senior voters from the polls. Biden performs better among old voters while young voters overwhelmingly back Sanders.
At one Palm Beach County location, the King’s Point clubhouse west of Delray Beach, only 32 people had voted as of noon. Poll workers there said they expected a low turnout because of the coronavirus.
But at other locations, voters said they waited in line for nearly an hour. As coronavirus precautions, voters are told to space out six feet apart as they wait to vote.
— Joey Garrison and The Palm Beach Post
Maryland postpones primary to June as 3 states vote
WASHINGTON – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday his state would postpone its primary, moving it from April 28 to June 2.
The move comes as Arizona, Florida, and Illinois hold their Democratic presidential primary elections Tuesday. Ohio closed its polling places after Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, declared a “health emergency.”
“During this time when we face an unprecedented public health crisis, to conduct an election tomorrow would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at a unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a release late Monday.
The virus, which has been named COVID-19, already appears to have depressed turnout in morning voting in Chicago. The Chicago Board of Elections said there was “extremely low turnout” in morning voting. From 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT, only 10,000 votes were cast, the Board said, as opposed to 30,000 votes that would be cast in a low turnout election.
Former Vice President Joe Biden currently leads the national delegate count with 898, whereas Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has 745 delegates. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, has two delegates.
— Nicholas Wu
Arizona’s largest county forced to close some polling locations
Former Vice President Joe Biden is heavily favored to defeat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as Arizona Democrats head to the polls for the state’s primary election amid the global pandemic.
Maricopa County election officials, in reaction to the coronavirus, closed 80 polling places and made the remaining 151 voting locations “vote centers,” allowing voters to vote at any location, not just the one in their neighborhood.
Sanders visited Phoenix earlier this month to bolster his campaign. He is counting on the state’s significant Latino population to provide a boost for him, but recent polling suggests he remains well behind here.
–Ronald J. Hansen and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Arizona Republic.