By Megan Alley
Sun Reporter

Ohio’s presidential primary election has been suspended by an order from the Ohio Director of Health, to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Ohio was set to hold its election on March 17, but after a series of back-and-forth actions from state leaders and the courts, the decision to officially suspend in-person voting came down early in the morning on Election Day, before the polls were set to open.

The timeline of actions is:

— Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced on March 15 that the primary election would take place as scheduled.

— Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, during a press conference on March 16, recommended that the election be suspended to June 2. However, Ohio’s governor lacks authority to delay the election on her/his own.

— Later on March 16, an elderly woman filed a lawsuit in Franklin County, requesting that the primary election be delayed; in general, she claimed that her age made her especially vulnerable to the virus, and that voting at the polls during the pandemic would put her at risk of contracting the deadly virus.

— Later still on March 16, Franklin County Court of Common Please Judge Richard denied the request to delay the Ohio primary election.

— Then, in the evening on March 16, Ohio Director of Health Amy Acton orders the polls closed as a health emergency.

— Early on March 17, the Supreme Court of Ohio denied a political candidate’s request to let the primary continue as scheduled.

Here are the details of the suspended plan:

— Acton ordered the closing of all polling places in Ohio on March 17, 2020.
— The March 17 Presidential Primary Election is suspended until a future date.
— There was no in-person voting at the polls on March 17.
— County board of elections offices were open on March 17 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. to receive any absentee ballots.
— Absentee ballots will continue to be accepted through the extended absentee voting period.
— The absentee ballot application deadline has been extended to May 26.
— Voters may continue to request absentee ballot forms. If you are a resident of Clermont County, you can access the absentee voter application at the Clermont County Board of Elections offices at 76 S. Riverside Dr., in Batavia or online at https://boe.clermontcountyohio.gov/absentee-voting/. If you have questions, you may call the board of elections at 513-732-7275.
— No new voter registrations will be accepted to participate in the primary election, as voter registration for the election closed on Feb. 18, and remains closed.

The leadership team at the Clermont County Board of Elections remains at the ready throughout this evolving process.

“We are doing the best we can,” County Board of Elections Director Julia Carney said in a phone interview on March 17. “We are responding to voters if they request an absentee ballot; we are sending the application out to them so that they can return it to the board of elections … we’ve been sending them out already this morning.”

Despite what seemed like minute-by-minute updates over the past serval days, Carney and her team forged ahead with election day preparations.

“All of our equipment has been at the polls; we deliver a few days before, so it’s been at the polls for a couple of days,” she explained. “We use a moving company, so it’s already scheduled to come back Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, this week.”

And according to anecdotes from Carney, it seems that many of the county’s voters were planning ahead as well. She said that while early in-person voting had been running at a “normal pace,” similar to the 2016 primary election, it spiked considerably the weekend before March 17.

“We had very large crowds on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and even Monday, actually, until 2 p.m.,” Carney said.

She also remarked that many in the county answered the call to work at local polling locations, as a way to relieve any older precinct election officials who are said to be more susceptible to the effects of the coronavirus.

“We did have a good number of people volunteer to be poll workers when the call went out at the end of the week … we did have a good number of people, college students and younger people, who did come forward to volunteer,” Carney said.

Those interested in working as precinct election officials in the rescheduled election are encouraged to call the board of elections or visit https://boe.clermontcountyohio.gov/precinct-election-officials/.

“We always are in need of poll workers,” Carney said.

As of publication on March 17, Carny said that the board of elections was running at full staff.

She also reconfirmed that the integrity of the election would be kept intact.

“All of the election equipment that is out at the polls right now has about six different locks on it that are all scanned. We have the serial numbers, so the equipment can not be gotten into without our knowledge,’ Carney explained. “When we get that equipment back, we will be retesting it to make sure that it’s working correctly prior to it being sent out to the polls for the next election.”

She added, “All the ballots that have been voted are in the office; we have a special absentee ballot room that requires a republican and a democrat to have the keys to open, so those are secure, and will remain secure until votes are counted.”