AP, Washington :
Joe Biden has been declared the winner of last week’s Democratic presidential primary in Washington state, giving him victories in five out of six states that voted March 10.
After nearly a week of counting votes, the former vice president on Monday held onto a small lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders that turned out to be insurmountable.
Washington was a state that Sanders had been hoping to win. In 2016, he won more than two-thirds of the delegates from the Washington caucuses over Hillary Clinton.
Of the state’s 89 pledged delegates, only 31 are allocated based on the statewide result. The remaining 58 are determined based on the results of the state’s 10 congressional districts, and those results might not be calculated until the election is certified by the secreta
Biden won four other states last Tuesday: Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan and Idaho. Sanders won North Dakota.
In Washington, Democrats used he vote-by-mail presidential primary – moved up this year from May – for the first time to allocate delegates instead of the smaller caucuses used in previous years.
Ohio’s emergency action is the sharpest example yet of how the pandemic is upending the US political world, causing unprecedented turmoil in an election year.
DeWine, mindful of the rapidly escalating crisis with coronavirus that has already left about 70 people dead in the United States, called Monday for postponement of the primary and said a lawsuit was filed in an effort to ensure the delay.
When an Ohio court rejected the request, DeWine and his administration stepped in and ordered the polls closed.
Holding an election under current conditions “would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at an unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus,” he said. The decision came barely eight hours before polls were to open across the industrial Midwestern state.
Holding an election under current conditions “would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at an unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus,” he said.
The decision came barely eight hours before polls were to open across the industrial Midwestern state.
All ballots already submitted by mail or by early voting will count whether or not the election day is switched, officials said. Three other states voting Tuesday – Arizona, Florida and Illinois – are set to hold their primaries as scheduled.
Meanwhile, Ohio health officials ordered the state’s polling stations closed for Tuesday’s Democratic primary, as the governor defied a court ruling and declared a health emergency over coronavirus. “While the polls will be closed tomorrow, Secretary of State @FrankLaRose will seek a remedy through the courts to extend voting options so that every voter who wants to vote will be granted that opportunity” at a later date, Governor Mike DeWine said late Monday on Twitter.
Ohio is one of four states – joining Florida, Illinois and Arizona -scheduled to hold primaries featuring Democratic presidential nomination frontrunner Joe Biden and his leftist rival Bernie Sanders.
Ohio’s emergency action is the sharpest example yet of how the pandemic is upending the US political world, causing unprecedented turmoil in an election year.
DeWine, mindful of the rapidly escalating crisis with coronavirus that has already left about 70 people dead in the United States, called Monday for postponement of the primary and said a lawsuit was filed in an effort to ensure the delay.
When an Ohio court rejected the request, DeWine and his administration stepped in and ordered the polls closed.
Four states – Arizona, Ohio, Illinois and Florida – are scheduled to hold primaries on Tuesday.
