Ohio holds first all-mail primary during a pandemic
By Associated Press -April 28, 2020 12:48 PM
Ohio's vote is being closely watched as a case study for how to proceed with elections if the pandemic doesn't ease.
The first major test of an almost completely vote-by-mail election during a pandemic is about to unfold in Ohio, offering lessons to other states about how to conduct one of the most basic acts of democracy amid a health crisis.
The process hasn't been smooth as state officials have navigated election laws and the need to protect citizens and poll workers from the coronavirus. Ohio's in-person primary was delayed just hours before polls were supposed to open last month, prompting legal challenges and confusion.
Tuesday's election replacing it requires voters to run at least three pieces of mail — an application, a blank ballot, and a completed one — through the U.S. Postal Service.
With Joe Biden emerging as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, there's little suspense in the results. Ohio's vote is instead being closely watched as a case study for how to proceed with elections if the pandemic doesn't ease. States have taken drastically different approaches, with Wisconsin proceeding with in-person voting earlier this month and New York saying Monday it would cancel its presidential primary, which was scheduled for June.
https://americanindependent.com/ohio-primary-mail-voting-2020-election-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19/