Primary elections scheduled to take place in four states Tuesday will happen as scheduled in spite of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Friday.
The secretaries of state for Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio said in a joint statement that health and election officials are working to ensure the primaries occur as planned.
“Americans have participated in elections during challenging times in the past, and based on the best information we have from public health officials, we are confident that voters in our states can safely and securely cast their ballots in this election, and that otherwise healthy poll workers can and should carry out their patriotic duties on Tuesday,” they said in the statement.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, added during a press conference held in Tallahassee that his state is “definitely” holding primary elections regardless of the pandemic.
“They voted during the Civil War. We’re going to vote,” Mr. DeSantis told reporters.
Some other upcoming state primary elections have been impacted over concerns caused by the coronavirus outbreak continuing to spread across the country, however.
Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced Friday that the presidential primary election previously scheduled for April 4 will be postponed until June 20.
“Safe and secure elections also mean safety to the people of Louisiana,” Mr. Ardoin, a Republican, said at a press conference.
The Wyoming Democratic Party separately announced the in-person portion of caucuses and county conventions previously scheduled for April 4 has been suspended.
“Our priority is ensuring that people are healthy and safe. Holding public events right now would put that in jeopardy, so this is the responsible course of action,” Wyoming Democratic Party chairman Joe Barbuto said Thursday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented 1,629 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the potentially deadly disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as of Friday. A total of 41 people in the U.S. have died after contracting the disease, according to the CDC.
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