- The Washington Times - Thursday, March 12, 2020

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday encouraged residents in his state to vote early if possible - when there won’t be as many people at the polls - ahead of the state’s March 17 presidential primary.

“People can actually go in to the Board of Elections, let’s say at 2:00 this afternoon or 2:30 this afternoon when the lines probably aren’t going to be very great at all and go ahead and vote and get it out of the way,” Mr. DeWine said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“So we’re trying to spread the voting out and encouraging people to do that so they avoid that personal contact,” Mr. DeWine said. “We keep getting back to, look - avoid situations where you’re [in] a lot of close contact with a lot of people.”

Both former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont canceled planned campaign events in Cleveland, Ohio this week amid the expanding coronavirus outbreak.

Mr. Biden’s campaign also said they were switching planned “large crowd” events in Illinois and Florida to “virtual” events.

Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders are slated to debate on Sunday in Arizona, though the Democratic National Committee announced there will be no live audience.

Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio are holding their presidential primaries on March 17.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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