https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/politics/bernie-sanders-primaries-postpone/index.html
(CNN)Immediately following his first one-on-one debate with former Vice President Joe Biden Sunday night, Bernie Sanders made a suggestion that could fundamentally change the nominating calendar this year.
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Asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper whether the primaries scheduled for Tuesday should be postponed, Sanders responded this way:
"That is a very good question, and as you know Louisiana, and Georgia, and Puerto Rico have delayed their elections. Postponed them, they've got dates in the future. Look, election dates are very very important we don't want to be getting into the habit of messing around with them. But you remember, and I just researched this, 9/11, you know there was a primary in New York City? Do you remember that?....
"....There was a primary. And it was canceled for obvious reasons in New York City and it was rescheduled two weeks later. I would hope that governors listen to the public health experts, and what they are saying as you just indicated, we don't want gatherings of more than 50 people. I'm thinking about some of the elderly people sitting behind the desks, registering people, doing all that stuff. Does that make a lot of sense? I'm not sure that it does."
Which is very interesting.
Because what we have seen, to date, is a few piecemeal moves by states and territories to postpone primaries set for the spring to the summer. Louisiana moved its April 4 primary to June 20 and Georgia went from March 24 to May 19. (Puerto Rico is also requesting its March 29 primary be moved to April 26.)
There has been no broader effort by a series of states, moving in unison, to suspend primaries (although new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that advises against any gatherings of 50 or more people could well change that thinking.)
Leading election officials in the four states set to vote Tuesday -- Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio -- had released a joint statement last week insisting their primaries will go forward:
"Americans have participated in elections during challenging times in the past, and based on the best information we have from public health officials, we 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."
But, on Monday afternoon, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine tweeted out his support for moving the primary from Tuesday to June 2.
"It is my recommendation that we postpone in-person voting until June 2, 2020," he wrote." I believe when we look back on this, we'll be happy we did this. The votes that have already been cast will still be counted - and this recommendation would allow others to vote in the future." DeWine said a lawsuit was in the process of being filed to change the date.
It remains to be seen whether any of the other states slated to vote tomorrow will follow suit.
If they don't, it could allow Sanders to make this argument: These results of primaries held within what is rapidly becoming something close to a national quarantine are not indicative of the broader opinion of the Democratic Party when it comes to whether he or Biden should be the party's nominee against Trump in the fall. That unless and until we are beyond this coronavirus pandemic, it is unreasonable to suggest that the primaries a) should be held and b) the results should be taken as representative.
The problem with that potential Sanders argument is two-fold:
1) He was behind in delegates after Super Tuesday (and Super Tuesday II), when the impact of the virus began to really affect daily life
2) The logistics of delaying a series of primaries until the summer makes it less likely Democrats will have a nominee who can focus his fire on Trump at the earliest possible date.
The truth of it is this: Sanders is right that holding votes amid a nationwide campaign of social distancing and pleas from elected officials to stay at home doesn't make all that much sense. And it's hard for me to imagine that turnout won't be dismally low in all four states set to vote tomorrow.
But the alternative doesn't really seem to exist. Once Tuesday's primaries happen, it seems very likely that Biden will have an insurmountable delegate lead over Sanders. So, whether other states postpone their primaries or not will almost certainly make zero difference in Biden's march to the nomination.
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