Coronavirus Delays Primary Elections
Arizona, Florida, and Illinois were the most recent states to vote in the Democratic primary, which took place on March 17. Voters from these states delivered Joe Biden three more victories over Senator Bernie Sanders. Ohio was set to vote on March 17 as well, but opted to delay it to April 28 in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. Some questioned the decision for those three states to vote in-person, which appears to have been a valid concern as some Florida poll workers have recently tested positive for coronavirus.
Florida looks to be poised as one of the worst outbreaks in the US. Turnout levels were still high, exceeding 2016 voting numbers in Florida and Arizona due to encouragement of early voting, mail-in ballots, and an apparent lack of concern towards the virus.
This decision to delay the New York primary to June 23 comes at a time when the state makes up over 100,000 of the 300,000+ confirmed cases in the US. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo said, “I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote, a lot of people touching one doorknob, a lot of people touching one pen...So we are going to delay that and link it to an election that was previously scheduled on June 23.”
In recent weeks, fifteen states and Puerto Rico have either delayed their primary elections or switched to mail-in voting with extended deadlines. Those states include Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Most states have pushed these elections to June, such as on June 2 when ten states, plus Washington D.C. will cast their ballots in a summer edition of Super Tuesday.
Tom Perez and the DNC have expressed their preference for primary elections to continue in order to wrap up the contest ahead of the convention, which has been rescheduled for Aug. 17 in Milwaukee as opposed to July 13. It is still unclear whether the virus will be under control at that time. It also depends on if and when the NBA comes back as the convention was supposed to be in the Bucks arena, Fiserv Forum, which could conflict with a deep playoff run for the team with the best record in the league.
Louisiana, Kentucky, and New York have pushed their elections past the preferred date of June 9 that the DNC set. A DNC memo explained, “If a state violates the rule on timing, or any other rule, they could be subject to penalties as prescribed in Rule 21, including at least a 50% reduction in delegates.” This would be a significant penalty for a state like New York that has 274 delegates up for grabs.
This decision to delay the New York primary to June 23 comes at a time when the state makes up over 100,000 of the 300,000+ confirmed cases in the US. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo said, “I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote, a lot of people touching one doorknob, a lot of people touching one pen...So we are going to delay that and link it to an election that was previously scheduled on June 23.”
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, has signed a last-minute executive order to delay the primary voting that is supposed to take place on April 7. Evers has received criticism from public health officials and both Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party apparatus of Wisconsin for not pushing for a postponement during the state’s stay-at-home order. Joe Biden was more hesitant to call for a rescheduling of the election. During a virtual press conference Biden said, “I think you could hold the election as well dealing with mail-in ballots and same day registration...I think it could be done…but that’s for them to decide.”
Although only 2,302 of the 3,979 total delegates have been allocated so far, many in the media have declared this race over, in favor of Joe Biden. There is not a clear path forward for Bernie Sanders, not counting a complete and unforeseen Biden collapse. With that in mind, there are no signs that Sanders plans to drop out anytime soon. For now, he is using his campaign to raise millions of dollars in coronavirus relief funds. Biden has expressed an urge to get on with the primary by saying, “I think we’ve had enough debates.”
It has also been reported that Biden has been narrowing down his choices for VP with the help of Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. who helped direct Obama’s VP choice in 2008.
Calls for Sanders to drop out have been loud and clear for several weeks, but the Senator has avoided calling it quits with the state of the race and country at a stand-still, along with a national healthcare and economic crisis that has elevated policy proposals from Sanders. In the last two weeks alone, 10 million people have filed for unemployment, which is historic, uncharted territory for this country.
Many scholars, policy experts and political pundits see this as a time for FDR-style social policies to help the US get out of this as we head towards Great Depression-level unemployment and economic devastation. A Health Management Associates (HMA) report predicts that a staggering 30 million Americans could lose their private health insurance over the next few months. This comes at a time when Biden has doubled down on his opposition to Medicare for All, arguing a single payer system, not tied to your employer, would not help solve the problem at all. Concurrently, a new poll from Morning Consult shows a majority of Americans support Medicare for All, a number that has jumped 9 points since Feb.
This crisis has also called into question the cost concern for many of Sanders’ proposals like the Green New Deal and Medicare For All as we witness trillions of dollars pumped into the economy, seemingly out of thin air. CNN anchor, Julia Chatterley, on air said, “In the space of three weeks, I’ve gone from asking questions like how do you pay for certain policies to retweeting tweets from the likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
Looking ahead to Nov., Trump’s reelection will likely come down to how voters perceive his handling of this crisis from a public health and economic perspective. Swing states like Michigan and Florida have some of the highest numbers of coronavirus cases, which will be interesting to see how much of the blame is put on the president. As an incumbent, it is his election to lose, and so far, his job approval ratings have seen a slight bump in recent weeks. In related news, Trump dodged yet another bullet from incoming Democratic investigations as Supreme Court hearings on his tax returns and financial records have been indefinitely postponed due to the virus.