IMPORTANT UPDATE
Governor Mile DeWine issued a Press Release tonight at 10:08 PM saying that Health Director Dr. Amy Acton will order the polls closed as a “health emergency”.
UPDATE AT 11:06 PM:
Read the order that Dr. Acton issued tonight at 10:59 PM. https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/OHOOD/2020/03/17/file_attachments/1402754/Director%27s%20Order%20Closure%20of%20the%20Polling%20Locations.pdf
Loveland, Ohio – It is still a fluid situation, but tomorrow’s Primary Election is still going to take place as planned. As of 7:19 PM tonight the polls will open in Ohio tomorrow at 6:30 AM and close at 7:30 PM.
This morning Ohio Governor Mile DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose recommended that Primary voting be extended until polls would open on June 2. Neither has the authority to change the Ohio election law, so two citizens went to court in Franklin County for them. They asked Common Pleas Judge, Richard Frye, to declare that the election should be postponed due to their health concerns during the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to Cleveland.com the judge said:
“There are too many factors to balance in this unchartered territory to say that we ought to take this away from the legislature and elected statewide officials, and throw it to a common pleas court judge in Columbus 12 hours before the election,” Frye said in denying the request. “As of tonight, the governor has not called an emergency session of the legislature,” Frye said. Nor have the leaders of the Ohio House and Senate, he added.
Frye’s decision is subject to appeal, and it is unknown at press time if that has happened.
