Ohio leaders recommend delaying Tuesday primary

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) —

Ohio's governor and elections chief have recommended postponing Tuesday's primary election as the number of cases of COVID-19 across the state rises.

Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both Republicans, said at a news conference Monday that they would sue to postpone in-person voting until June 2. The two officials do not have the power to postpone an election on their own.

Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden, the former vice president, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont are competing for 136 delegates in Ohio, which also has primaries in congressional and and state legislative races, as well as local-issue votes to be decided.

The recommendation likely means polling places will not open Tuesday, despite LaRose's assurances as recently as Monday morning that voting was ready to go forward.

Louisiana and Georgia earlier postponed presidential primaries scheduled for March.

LaRose's office had reported that roughly 140 polling places in nursing homes or residential care facilities successfully had been relocated and that a recruiting effort had netted more than 1,500 last-minute poll workers.

LaRose on Sunday issued an updated “best practices” directive that required all 88 county boards of elections to offer a curbside voting option Tuesday to any voter "concerned about coming inside a polling location." He also had required the boards to accept absentee ballots from "unforseeably confined or hospitalized voters" until 3 p.m. on Election Day. It was not immediately clear whether these activities could continue if the primary is postponed.

Voting rights advocates had raised issues that the earlier steps weren't enough.

“As a result of last-minute polling location changes and fears around contracting the coronavirus, an increased number of voters were in need of absentee ballots on very short notice,” representatives of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the civil rights group Demos, and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law wrote in a letter to LaRose on Sunday.

The groups said short staffing at county boards, slow postal delivery times and the number of steps needed for a voter to request an absentee ballot were making it “all but impossible” for voters to meet the absentee ballot deadline. Absentee ballot voting has been underway for a month.

They reported that 2,603 combined absentee ballots were requested from Montgomery, Summit and Lucas counties, three of the state's largest, and only 29 had been returned and designated countable.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier coverage is below.

Ohioans will vote Tuesday in another important Democratic presidential primary test for former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, one that will also test the coronavirus outbreak's impact on voting.

There are 136 delegates to the Democratic national convention at stake, along with congressional and legislative primaries and local-issue votes across the state.

Republican-led Ohio has taken aggressive measures to head off the virus's spread, including moving voting away from senior centers. There have been concerns about a poll worker shortage, with many older workers staying at home. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose planned a 2 p.m. update.

Earlier Monday, LaRose ordered all county boards of elections to offer a curbside voting option Tuesday to any voter "concerned about coming inside a polling location." His latest order also requires the boards to accept absentee ballots from "unforseeably confined or hospitalized voters" until 3 p.m. on Election Day.

Florida is the biggest prize in Tuesday's Democratic presidential votes, which includes Illinois and Arizona. Biden was looking to repeat Hillary Clinton's success in Ohio in 2016, when she defeated Sanders with 56% on her way to the nomination.

Sanders retains a network of supporters in the state from the 2016 primary, while Biden has familiarity from years of campaign visits to the state that President Barack Obama carried twice in the general elections.

Republican President Donald Trump is unopposed. Then-Gov. John Kasich defeated him in the 2016 primary for Kasich’s only state victory. Trump went on to win the traditional swing state by margin of 8 percentage points, raising questions about whether Democrats will target the state in the 2020 general election.

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Ohio’s congressional map to remain intact for 2020, after a lower federal court ruled it was unconstitutionally partisan. Republicans hold a 12-4 delegation lead.

One of the closest-watched primaries will be Columbus’ 3rd Congressional District, where four-term U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty is working to fend off progressive challenger Morgan Harper, a former senior adviser at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau running to Beatty’s left. Beatty, who is black, has held the district since it was gerrymandered to favor Democrats in redistricting that followed the 2010 Census.

Another will be Cincinnati-based 1st Congressional District, where Kate Schroder, with deep experience in health care, and Nikki Foster, a veteran combat pilot, are vying for the Democratic nomination to take on 12-term Republican Steve Chabot after Chabot overcame a spirited challenge in 2018.

Among state House races, former U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt was seeking to return to the state Legislature in a three-way primary for the 65th District that drew attention when the state Republican Party withdrew its endorsement of candidate Joe Dills after personal issues surfaced including his sign-up for an online dating account that promotes marital infidelity.

Sewell reported from Cincinnati. Follow Julie Carr Smyth at https://twitter.com/jcarrsmyth and Dan Sewell at https://www.twitter.com/dansewell