Louisiana, Georgia Postpones Primaries Due to Wuhan Virus

ATLANTA, GA – Election officials in the Empire State of the South have postponed primary elections scheduled for March 24 as virtual quarantine measures spread across the country in reaction to the Wuhan Coronavirus. Instead, the election will now be scheduled for May 19.

From the Hill:

“[…] “Events are moving rapidly and my highest priority is protecting the health of our poll workers, their families, and the community at large,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement to The Hill.

The move comes as Louisiana on Friday became the first state to postpone their primary due to concerns over the virus, pushing their contest from April 4 to June 20. 

Georgia currently has 66 confirmed cases of the virus and one death, according to Johns Hopkins’ Center for Systems Science and Engineering. However, according to health officials, cases will continue to pop up before they decrease. 

Election officials fear that the outbreak could put voters at risk and potentially lessen turnout as Americans are urged by government officials to practice “social isolation.”

“Given these circumstances, I believe it is necessary and prudent to suspend in-person voting in the Presidential Preference Primary, and the local elections associated with them, and resume in-person voting for those elections as part of the already scheduled May 19 General Primary,” Raffensperger said. […]”

While those states postpone, four other states — Arizona, Florida, Illinois,and Ohio — are set to hold primary elections this Tuesday. More come in early April.

The delays may give primary candidates more time to solicit support from voters, but those voters may not be interested in attending ‘Meet & Greets’ under pandemic conditions. Necessarily, the delays will be truncating the general election for so many candidates and perhaps extending the two-man battle between Democratic presidential contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The two remaining candidates held a debate Sunday night.