As cities around the country shut down, four states—Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio—are still planning to hold their presidential primaries on Tuesday, a decision that seems incredibly dumb as all of us are being told to stay at home and avoid crowds. Poll workers, many of whom are older, are (rightly) canceling and voting locations have been forced to change, leaving election officials scrambling.
The only governor who seems to have any goddamned sense right now is Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine, a sentence that I never thought I would type! On Monday, DeWine recommended that his state’s primary be postponed until June. “We can’t tell people it’s in their best interest to stay home and at the same time tell people to go vote,” DeWine said.
Here’s what would need to happen for the state’s primary to be delayed, per Politico:
DeWine said he does not have the authority to unilaterally postpone the election in Ohio, but the state is supporting a lawsuit seeking to postpone in-person voting until June 2. The plaintiffs in the case are individual voters at risk of being disenfranchised because they don’t feel well enough to vote in person.
“The power to suspend an election, the power to delay an election, is not one we have. It rests with the legislature and the courts,” Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said at the press conference. “I hope and anticipate the judge will agree with us.”
DeWine said at the press conference that a lawsuit will be filed in Franklin County on Monday by voters who feared for their health, with support of the state. DeWine said that, if the court grants the order, absentee voting should be allowed to take place between now and June 2.
And while Bernie Sanders supports rescheduling—which again, would seem to be in agreement with the CDC’s recommendations right now—Joe Biden’s team is astonishingly pushing the line that people should go out and vote tomorrow.
- File this one under “too little too late is an understatement”: Donald Trump finally seems to be taking the coronavirus pandemic a tad more seriously, saying at his press conference today, “It’s bad, it’s bad.” [Politico]
- And file this one under “we live in a shithole country whose immoral leaders want people to die”: even as coronavirus infections are killing people in nursing homes, the Trump administration is moving forward with its effort to weaken nursing home regulations, “including rules meant to curb deadly infections among elderly residents.” [New York Times]
- Devin Nunes continues to be a massive idiot, telling people to “go to a local restaurant” even as cities begin shutting down. He added, “Likely you can get in easily.” [CNN]
- Another sentence I never thought I’d type: welcome to the Yang Gang, Mitt Romney! The Republican senator has proposed a one-time cash payment of $1,000 to every American adult. It’s not enough, but it’s a start. [Vox]
- This year’s Easter Egg Roll has been canceled due to the high likelihood that Donald Trump would give the Easter Bunny coronavirus.
- People aren’t just stocking up on toilet paper—they’re stocking up on guns too, which is basically America in a nutshell. [Los Angeles Times]
- The ACLU has filed a lawsuit demanding that immigrants being detained in Seattle who are at high risk of contracting coronavirus be released. Fucking free them all. [BuzzFeed/Mother Jones]