To Coronavirus polling places are breakfast, lunch & dinner. The ideal place to branch out in their feast on human blood.
ELECTION WORKERS ARE EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC SERVANTS DOING A JOB REQUIRING HOURS OF TRAINING AND LONG HOURS ON ELECTION DAY. I BELIEVE THOSE PEOPLE WILL TAKE ON THE EXTRAORDINARY RISK PRESENTED BY COVID-19.
My wife was judge of elections in Coatesville Pennsylvania Chester County Precinct 110 for 10 years. I was an election officer.
I believe Chester County has one of the best operated election services in the U.S.
I'm sure someone is working on developing training now. It's hard to find people who will volunteer to work a 4AM to 11PM or later day in normal circumstances.
MORE AT:
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
***
Over 1600 people, including medical professionals, have signed. Public health professionals, scientists, advocates, elected representatives, and others are encouraged to add their name to this letter here.
***
UPDATE—9:50 PM ET Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton orders polls closed as a health emergency. In-person voting is postponed. Mail-in voting likely to be extended.
UPDATE — 7:50 PM ET Democratic Judge Richard Frye denies the Ohio state government’s request for a temporary injunction to reschedule in-person voting.
UPDATE — 3:50 PM ET Ohio went to court to postpone in-person voting portion of their primary to June 2. They filed a lawsuit on behalf of voters, who will be disenfranchised.
***
Original Letter
*To DNC Chair Tom Perez and Members of the Democratic National Committee, the Secretaries of State of Arizona, Florida, and Ohio, and the chair of the Illinois State Board of Elections:
The next round of Democratic presidential primaries are scheduled for March 17 in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois, amid a deadly pandemic. This is a dangerous state of affairs.
All four states have declared states of emergency or have patients in quarantine in response to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak.
On March 14, Georgia moved their primary from March 24 to May 19. Louisiana rescheduled their primary on April 4 for June 20.
Hundreds are sick and multiple people have died. It has resulted in numerous cancellations and postponements, including presidential campaign events in Cleveland and Tampa.
In the swing state of Ohio, the state’s Health Department Director Amy Acton said there is evidence one percent of Ohioans may be carrying the coronavirus. That means 117,000 may have have COVID-19.
A day before the scheduled March 17 primary, Ohio recognized the risks and postponed in-person voting to June 2.
State officials in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois, with the support of the Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns, should reschedule the primaries for May, when states such as Indiana, Oregon, and Kentucky have their primaries.
Until May, mail-in voting should be implemented throughout under the guidance of health and election authorities.
We have seen long lines of voters in states like Texas and Michigan. The amount of time standing in line with hundreds or even thousands of other voters substantially increases the likelihood that someone will get sick.
By postponing primaries, state governments will be able to keep resources focused, and they will not need to worry about the distraction of running primaries while responding to this pandemic.
This will also give time for the states to implement alternative voting mechanisms, such as vote-by-mail, at a sufficient scale if the pandemic continues to be an emergency for these states.
Furthermore, polling place workers, who are generally retired volunteers over 65 years-old, should not need to be exposed to the risk of contracting the coronavirus while managing precinct locations.
We should note that we do not believe that a public health crisis or a state of emergency should ever be used as an excuse to cancel elections. The Democratic primary season concludes in early June; the party has full flexibility to schedule state-level races at any point before then.
In addition to our primary concern about public health, we believe this would be beneficial to the democratic process.
As people are understandably avoiding public places and crowds, we expect turnout to be depressed. Rescheduling the primaries would ensure that more people are allowed to exercise their right to vote without fear.
It would also be particularly good for down ballot races in the Democratic Party primary. Candidates in city, county, and state races will likely benefit from higher turnout.
Cancellations and closings help doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have a chance at saving lives.
For the health of our fellow citizens and our democracy, please act now to postpone the upcoming March primaries until May.
Medical and public health professionals, scientists, advocates, elected representatives, and others are encouraged to sign on to this letter here.
Signed,
MORE AT:
The new coronavirus hampered efforts by voters to get to the polls in some states on Tuesday as the global pandemic left the Democratic presidential primary consumed with uncertainty.
Leaders in Ohio called off their primary just hours before polls were set to open, citing the need to combat the coronavirus. Voting moved forward in Florida, Illinois and Arizona, but challenges emerged as some poll workers didn’t show up and those who did tried to create distance among voters to comply with new health guidelines limiting large gatherings.
In Florida, the Palm Beach County elections department said many workers failed to show up in at least five locations. The county had 800 volunteers back out as of Monday, with just 100 new volunteers offering to take their place.
No other major problems were reported in Florida, but a coalition of voting-rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit seeking to extend mail voting in the state's primary by 10 days.
In Illinois, there was a scramble to relocate about 50 Chicago-area polling places after locations canceled at the last minute and said they would not be available for use on Tuesday. Timna Axel, director of communications for the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, said voters have been calling the group’s hotline all morning to get help finding their polling places.
The steady flow of calls — including from some polling place workers — is “unusual for a primary,” Axel said.
Meanwhile, Cook County, Illinois Clerk Karen A. Yarbrough encouraged poll workers to mark space on the floor at polling sites to keep voters a safe distance apart and avoid spreading the virus. She tweeted a photo of a roll of blue tape, a piece of string and a tape measure along with a note that read: “THIS PICTURE CAN SAVE LIVES.”
MORE AT:
Chicago Tribune
By WILL WEISSERT and ALEXANDRA JAFFE
Associated Press |
Mar 17, 2020 | 1:02 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can add your voice to this blog by posting a comment.