Another State Delays Its Primary, With an Asterisk

Maryland won't vote until June 2, with one exception
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 17, 2020 12:50 PM CDT
Another State Delays Its Primary, With an Asterisk
A voter casts his ballot during the Florida primary at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, March 17, 2020   (Joe Burbank /Orlando Sentinel via AP)

The election 2020 timeline is getting another adjustment due to the novel coronavirus. Maryland on Tuesday became the fifth state to shift its primary, which had been scheduled for April 28. It will now be held June 2. Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio have already made similar moves. But Maryland's delay has an asterisk: One election will take place as planned in one congressional district on April 28: the special election to fill the late Rep. Elijah Cummings' seat through the end of his term in January, the Baltimore Sun reports. Voters will choose between former Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume and Republican Kimberly Klacik via mail-in ballot only, which Politico reports marks the first federal election that has made a mail-in-only move due to COVID-19.

But not every state is following suit and postponing. Three primaries are underway right now: In Arizona, Florida, and Illinois. But the New York Times reports they are taking special measures. In Arizona, a number of locations have set up curbside voting, for instance. Illinois moved to keep open a number of early voting sites to expand the number of voting locations so as to thin out the crowds. Even with Ohio out, there's a hefty number of delegates for the taking: about 450. Polls close in Joe Biden-friendly Florida at 7pm ET, one hour later in Illinois, and by 10pm ET in Arizona. Vox reports that "all signs point to a sweep by Biden." (More Election 2020 stories.)

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