The Coronavirus outbreak is already disrupting the 2020 presidential campaign. States like Louisiana have delayed their upcoming primary.
However, Louisiana’s decision to push back their primary is unusual. States like Ohio and Florida are not postponing their primaries, but taking precautions to prevent spreading the virus. Rice University political science Professor Bob Stein says individual states can make that call.
“That’s why you see this patch quilt of system of elections,” Stein told KTRH. “Some states have voter ID, some don’t. Some have early voting.”
Stein says the November general election is not likely to be delayed. Officially, to do so would take an act of Congress.
“We have plenty of time to make changes. I think relaxing absentee ballot requests would be one way to solve [the problem],” Stein said.
He anticipates states will make adjustments if the virus is still a concern by November.