What Went Down In The Arizona, Florida And Illinois Primaries

I asked some Illinois voters — and a Chicago alderman who happened to be at the early voting site where I was — today whether they thought the primary in their state should have been postponed. The answers were pretty divided. Some people (including the alderman) said that moving the primary could be seen as a violation of democratic norms, even an attempt to suppress the vote. But others thought it was a mistake to have the election at a moment when it’s so risky to be outside in a big crowd, and said it should have been postponed.

Sarah, I think the circumstances lessen the risk of setting a precedent for violating norms. Obviously democracy is not going to function very well if elections can be called off willy-nilly, but when lives are very literally at stake I think that’s a high bar that has been met.

So something that’s been debated a fair amount on Twitter and the like is whether a move like Ohio’s — to cancel an election at the last minute given the very real concerns of the coronavirus — is a good move or if it’s possibly a dangerous norm violation. What is the case for a move like Ohio’s and the case against?