17.5 million voters face an impossible choice: Vote in their state's primary today and risk coronavirus exposure, or stay home
- Primaries are going ahead in Arizona, Illinois, and Florida, where more than 17.5 million combined voters could cast ballots.
- Yet CDC guidelines recommend shutting down gatherings of 10 or more people amid the coronavirus epidemic.
- Voting Americans are in a dilemma: Should they go vote and risk infection, or stay home and automatically withdraw support for their candidate?
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More than 17.5 million voters face an impossible choice Tuesday: Cast a ballot and risk contracting the novel coronavirus, or withhold support for their candidate in the safety of their homes.
Arizona, Illinois, and Florida have marched ahead with their primary elections Tuesday.
In Illinois and Florida, both Democrats and Republicans are holding elections. In Arizona, Democrats are voting Tuesday and Republicans will hold their primary on August 4.
At the same time, the United States is in the throes of a coronavirus pandemic. To date, the US has 4,661 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The federal government is ordering extraordinary measures to help contain the virus, including recommending that gatherings of 50 or more people be canceled.
That leads to a dilemma for voters: Should they vote in important local primaries - as well as the Democratic presidential primary between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont - or stay home?
Ohio postponed its elections at the last minute
Tuesday morning was cold and sunny in Woodstock, Illinois, where Grant, a voter who only provided his first name, turned out for Sanders. At his polling location, Grant said few health measures were instituted to protect voters from contracting the coronavirus.
"There was a single hand sanitizer pump just before you'd go up to the poll workers, but I did not see any sanitizer with the poll workers themselves and there were no poll workers wearing gloves or masks," Grant told Insider in a Twitter message. There were "no signs indicating that we ought to keep extra distance from fellow poll-goers," he said.
Worse, all the poll-workers looked like they were at least 60 years old, he said. Elderly people have a far greater mortality rate for the virus than younger people.
Ohio was also scheduled to host its primary elections Tuesday but postponed them at the last minute. Monday evening, the state's Republican governor shuttered the primary, and hours later a state judge rejected the action, saying it would set "a terrible precedent." The eleventh-hour skirmish finally concluded with a word from the Ohio Department of Health, reaffirming the postponement.
Illinois authorities' decision to keep polls open - instead of following Ohio's decision to postpone elections - was reckless, according to Grant. "Voting is something essential as a citizen and I decided I had to take the risk. I wish we, in Illinois, took the same route as Ohio and pushed back the vote."
Florida's Republican governor insisted elections go on.
"We're definitely voting," said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a recent press conference. "They voted during the Civil War."
One social media user went viral on Twitter encouraging Floridians to turn out in strong numbers. "Today is the day, Florida. Go vote. Like your life depends on it, because it does."
"Your heart is in the right place," someone replied, implying that the vote-or-not-vote dilemma cannot be easily swept aside. One's life may depend on voting, and it may also depend on preventing exposure to the coronavirus.
Some polling places shuttered, which may lead to a surge in others
What steps could authorities have taken to escape the dilemma? Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, followed the lead of what election experts have been saying for weeks and threw his support behind vote-by-mail measures on Monday night - even as he supported states that are continuing to hold in-person primary elections.
Illinois and Arizona have made last-minute rule changes to adjust for the pandemic. Now, voters can vote in any open location, instead of just a designated one.
However, Arizona, which has 13 confirmed cases, shuttered more than one-in-three of its 231 voting locations last week. People hoping to cast ballots can now visit only 151 locations across the state.
That means that each location could see higher attendance, even as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention declared that gatherings should not exceed 50 people.
That concern may be especially serious in Chicago, Illinois, which closed 39 voting places as of last week.
But according to Jenna Stroh, an Illinois construction worker who will dash from work to the ballot boxes, casting her vote for Biden is crucial.
"I've complained far too long about the current administration," Stroh told Insider via social media. "Now is the time for my voice to be heard and be a part of the change."
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- The first COVID-19 case originated on November 17, according to Chinese officials searching for 'patient zero'