Joe Biden won Ohio’s presidential primary Tuesday, clinching a contest that was less about the Democratic nomination and more about how states can conduct elections in the era of the coronavirus. The primary was the first major test of statewide elections via mail amid an outbreak. “Within the context of the threat of the virus, it’s a decision that we will have made the best of,” Republican Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio elections chief who chairs the bipartisan International Foundation for Electoral Systems, said of mail-in balloting. It called on Ohio to mail ballots directly to eligible voters in the future, as other states do, a proposal so far rejected by the Republican-controlled state Legislature. Blackwell, the former Ohio election chief, said he didn’t see Tuesday’s results setting a precedent.

Source: The Standard April 29, 2020 01:41 UTC