10:10 p.m. update:
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton will order polls closed as a health emergency.
"During this time when we face an unprecedented public health crisis, to conduct an election tomorrow would would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at a unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus. As such, Health Director Dr. Amy Acton will order the polls closed as a health emergency. While the polls will be closed tomorrow, Secretary of State Frank LaRose will seek a remedy through the courts to extend voting options so that every voter who wants to vote will be granted that opportunity."
Check back for updates.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio judge rejected a request late Monday to postpone the state's primary amid concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, but it was not clear if that would be the final word though there were just hours to go before polls were scheduled to open.
Judge Richard Frye ruled against an effort backed by Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who had hoped to push in-person voting back to June 2 to avoid putting voters in the untenable position of choosing between their health and exercising their right to vote.
But Frye said that to postpone the primary would set a “terrible precedent."
"There are too many factors to balance in this uncharted territory to say that we ought to take it away from the Legislature and elected statewide officials, and throw it to a common pleas court judge in Columbus with 12 hours to go before the election," Frye said from the bench.
Ohio Supreme Court spokesman Ed Miller said that court was watching late Monday for an appeal, which could come to an appellate court or directly to the high court.
Neither DeWine or LaRose, both Republicans, has the power to postpone an election on his own.
DeWine andLaRose issued the following joint statement:
"The only thing more important than a free and fair election is the health and safety of Ohioans. The Ohio Department of Health and the CDC have advised against anyone gathering in groups larger than 50 people, which will occur if the election goes forward. Additionally, Ohioans over 65 and those with certain health conditions have been advised to limit their nonessential contact
with others, affecting their ability to vote or serve as poll workers. Logistically, under these extraordinary circumstances, it simply isn’t possible to hold an election tomorrow that will be considered legitimate by Ohioans. They mustn’t be forced to choose between their health and exercising their constitutional rights."
But there have been questions raised about the impact on turnout among both elderly and youth voters, and DeWine said he didn't want older voters to face the choice of staying home, as recommended, or going out to vote.
"We should not force them to make this choice, the choice between their health and their constitutional rights and their duties as American citizens," DeWine said.
Most people who come down with COVID-19 have relatively mild symptoms, but it can be deadly for some, especially the elderly and those with underlying health problems. Most people infected with the virus recover in a matter of weeks.
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 from the governor and secretary came hours after LaRose's assurances that voting was ready to go forward.
“Suspending in-person voting is a serious matter, and we have tried to do everything we could to avoid that," LaRose said. State officials said they had been getting calls from concerned voters and poll workers.
A Democratic candidate in a contested congressional primary expressed support for the move, saying by email that public health must come first.
“As a candidate, changing the date of the election is an unexpected challenge, but it is nothing compared to the importance of community safety and minimizing lives lost," said Kate Schroder, who is seeking the nomination to challenge 12-term Republican Rep. Steve Chabot in Ohio's 1st Congressional District, in the Cincinnati area. “I wholeheartedly support Governor DeWine’s recommendation.”
Louisiana and Georgia earlier postponed presidential primaries scheduled for March.
LaRose on Sunday had issued a directive that required all 88 county boards of elections to offer a curbside voting option Tuesday to concerned voters and to accept
absentee ballots through most of Election Day.
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.
A Democrat who is exploring a run for governor in 2022 disagreed with efforts to delay the primary, saying although he believed DeWine was acting for public health, he is concerned about calling off scheduled voting with so little notice.
"I worry that the precedent could haunt future elections by people who are not motivated by the same public good," Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said in an email
