An Ohio judge on Monday denied a motion to push in-person voting in the state’s presidential primary past March 17, after Gov. Mike DeWine had said earlier in the day he was advocating a delay because of concerns over the expanding coronavirus outbreak.
Franklin County Judge Richard Frye said he was “very reluctant” to “have a judge in Columbus rewrite the election code, reset the election for some arbitrary date in the future and upset the apple cart in a terrible precedent.”
Pending any potential appeal, the ruling means that Ohio’s presidential primary is on for Tuesday despite Mr. DeWine’s last-minute overture.
Judge Frye said there are too many factors to balance in the “uncharted territory” of taking things away from the legislature and elected statewide officials and throwing things to “a common pleas court judge in Columbus with 12 hours to go until the election.”
Mr. DeWine had acknowledged earlier in the day that he couldn’t unilaterally move the election, but had expressed hope that a judge would grant a favorable ruling to a legal petition.
“We cannot conduct this election, in-person voting, for 13 hours…and conform to [federal] guidelines,” Mr. DeWine said. “It is therefore my recommendation…that voting be extended until June 2nd.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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