/Coronavirus and the 2020 campaigns: States mull how to handle remaining primaries

Coronavirus and the 2020 campaigns: States mull how to handle remaining primaries

As the 2020 election cycle enters an unprecedented phase of virtual campaigning and social distancing, candidates and party officials are wrestling with how to best adjust amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

There are at least 1,701 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and 40 coronavirus-related deaths, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Tune into ABC News Live at noon ET every weekday for the latest news, context and analysis on the novel coronavirus, with the full ABC News team where we will try to answer your questions about the virus.

Here’s how the election cycle is rapidly changing.

Louisiana moving primary to June 20 violates current DNC rules, party says

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced Friday that the primary that was set to take place on April 4 has been delayed to June 20 — a move that the Democratic National Committee said runs afoul of the committee’s “rule on timing” since all contests must be held before June 9th.

Ardoin said he requested postponing the primary “out of an abundance of caution for Louisiana’s voters, voting officials, and the voting public as a whole.”

A key stakeholder in the decision was to protect “the election day polling commissioners. More than half of the commissioners are over the age of 65, a population that is particularly vulnerable to the disease.

“Safe and secure elections also mean safety to the people of Louisiana,” Ardoin said.

He said that they tried to find ways to hold the election “but kept running into barrier after barrier.”

Ardoin said that he is not sure if any other state is delaying their elections and that he “has not gotten any calls from other election officials.”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he would sign a separate executive order approving the request.

“The limits on gatherings of 250 people or more statewide is based on federal CDC guidance given the community spread which we are currently experiencing. These steps are necessary to protect the health and safety of the people of Louisiana from the risk of COVID-19,” he said in a statement.

At least 45 states have laws on the books that address Election Day emergencies, according to the National Conference of Legislatures. But the laws vary widely between states.

Only Florida, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and Louisiana explicitly give governors the power to move election dates in an emergency. Other governors could likely adjust elections, though they would probably have to work with relevant agencies and state legislatures to do so, rather than acting unilaterally.

In response to the Louisiana secretary of state’s request, the DNC notes that changing the primary to June 20 violates the committee’s “rule on timing” since all contests must be held before June 9th. Any violation of the rules could result in a delegate penalty.

All contests must happen by June 9 and delegates must be elected by June 20, as stated in the rules passed by the full DNC. The Rules and Bylaws Committee within the DNC will now have to review the request.

“We will continue to work with every state party as they adjust their delegate selection plans around coronavirus. This change would violate our rule on timing which provides that all states hold their contests by June 9th. Any violation of our rules could result in a penalty that would include a state losing at least half of its delegates,” a DNC spokesperson told ABC News. “This change will be reviewed by the Rules and Bylaws Committee.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has already responded to the postponement. Biden’s Deputy Campaign manager and Communication Director Kate Bedingfield released a statement encouraging those who are still well to go out and vote in primaries Tuesday, and suggesting those who are at risk or have been expose explore other ways to vote.

“Voting is at the very heart of who we are as a democracy. As election officials working with public health officials are demonstrating throughout the country, our elections can be conducted safely in consultation with public health officials. If voters are feeling healthy, not exhibiting symptoms, and don’t believe they’ve been exposed to COVID-19, please vote on Tuesday. If voters are members of an at-risk population, exhibiting symptoms, or have been exposed to a diagnosed case of COVID-19, we encourage them to explore absentee ballots and vote by mail options,” Bedingfield’s statement read.

Meanwhile, officials in Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio released a joint statement saying they “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.”

“As each of our four states prepare for voters to head to the polls on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, we are working closely with our state health officials to ensure that our poll workers and voters can be confident that voting is safe,” the statement read.

Sanders says postponing primaries is a ‘tough question,’ campaign is ‘thinking through’ work-arounds

In yet another press conference from his hometown of Burlington, Vermont on Friday–his third in three days– Sen. Bernie Sanders again outlined proposals to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and pitched his signature Medicare for All plan, saying that the outbreak could be the turning point at which the public begins to question the fundamentals of the American health care system.

Working from a teleprompter — something rare on the campaign trail for Sanders — the senator largely repeated his remarks from Thursday, calling for scientists to take the lead on the response to the emergency, arguing that the costs of testing and treatment need to be made affordable, and pushing for the expansion of safety net programs for those economically impacted.

As to whether upcoming primaries should be delayed amid the pandemic, Sanders acknowledged it was a tough choice.

“Rescheduling elections is not something we do lightly or should do lightly. On the other hand, at this particular moment, it is absolutely appropriate that public officials, governors, etc., listen to public health officials,” he said.

He also stressed President Trump should be tested for coronavirus, given reports he’s been in close proximity to people affected.

“I would. You know,I was asked early on, to the best of my knowledge, I have not been in proximity to somebody who had the virus. If I knew that I was, I would get tested, and I think that holds true for the president,” he said.

Two-thirds of Americans concerned about contracting coronavirus, as country grapples with growing crisis: POLL

Two-thirds of Americans are concerned that they or someone they know will be infected with the novel coronavirus, but in a country with a growing partisan divide, political tribalism is having a large impact when it comes to anxiety over the disease, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday.

Although unease over the coronavirus is high, it also strongly breaks along partisan lines. Among Democrats, 83% are concerned about getting coronavirus, including 47% who are very concerned, and among Republicans, 56% are concerned, including only 15% who are very concerned. Only 17% of Democrats are not concerned while a larger 44% of Republicans are not concerned.

Read more of the poll’s findings here.

Trump campaign calls Biden a “rotting corpse of a candidate” on Twitter

A growing pandemic hasn’t stopped the Trump campaign from escalating their attacks on Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden—now calling the former vice president a “rotting corpse of a candidate” on Twitter.

In a tweet on Friday, the official Trump campaign account appeared to reiterate an opinion piece from the The Washington Times, blasting Biden as what they called a “rotting corpse of a candidate.”

The tweet follows Biden’s continued criticism of the president’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The former vice president delivered a speech designed to hammer Trump’s response to the outbreak on Thursday, arguing that the virus had “laid bare the severe shortcomings of the current administration.”

Hours later, the president himself fired back at Biden on Twitter, and tried to use the Obama/Biden administration’s handling of the Swine Flu in 2009 to argue his own response to the coronavirus has been “one of the best.”

ABC News’ Chris Donato, Kendall Karson, Adam Kelsey, Molly Nagle, Ben Siegel and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

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