Early Tuesday morning, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a challenge to the state's last-minute postponement of Tuesday's presidential primary elections, meaning the election is off.

A judge rejected Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's initial request to cancel in-person voting and move the state's March 17 presidential primary to June to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

But DeWine announced late on Monday night that despite the court order, the Ohio Department of Health would order all the polls to be closed pursuant to a public health emergency and seek to expand vote-by-mail in the courts.

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Early on Tuesday morning, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a challenge to the state's last-minute postponement of Tuesday's presidential primary elections, officially delaying the election.

The Ohio Department of Health announced Monday night it would shut down polling places as part of a public health emergency in the state after a judge rejected officials' request to cancel in-person voting for the state's March 17 presidential primary and move the election to June 2 over the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

"We cannot tell people to stay inside, but also tell them to go out and vote," Gov. Mike DeWine tweeted on Monday afternoon. He also expressed concern for both voters and elderly poll workers, who are especially vulnerable to the virus.

DeWine's announcement came after Louisiana, Georgia, and Puerto Rico postponed their presidential primaries until May or June to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as public-health officials urged against people congregating closely together in public spaces.

DeWine tweeted on Monday that the state filed a suit asking a judge to sign off on postponing the March 17 Democratic presidential primary and US House primaries until June.

In a Monday ruling, a judge in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas rejected DeWine's request to move the primary, citing in part the last-minute nature of the government's request.

—Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 16, 2020

There are now over 4,700 cases of the novel coronavirus reported throughout the US, including 50 confirmed cases in Ohio. So far, 92 people in the US have died from COVID-19.

DeWine has taken swift action to limit the virus' spread in Ohio. In addition to filing a suit to postpone the state's primary, he has closed public schools, restaurants, and bars in the state to limit large concentrations of people and encourage people to stay home.

He further announced in a Monday press conference that the state would shut down gyms, movie theaters, and recreational centers. Ohio will also ban gatherings with more than 50 people, in accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But multiple local outlets reported widespread confusion and miscommunications over the election between local election officials and poll workers, many of whom were told not to come in to run their polling places even after Judge Fyre's ruling ordering the election to continue as planned.

In a follow-up statement released on Monday night, DeWine and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose further muddied the waters by releasing a joint statement strongly suggesting that holding the election would be in violation of the CDC's guidance against large in-person gatherings, writing, "it simply isn't possible to hold an election tomorrow that will be considered legitimate by Ohioans."

Then, minutes later, DeWine announced that despite the court order, the Ohio Department of Health would order all the polls to be closed pursuant to a public health emergency, and officials would continue to fight in court to extend vote-by-mail.

—Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 17, 2020

Ohio officials reacted with a mixture of shock and dismay at the conflicting messages from top state officials, with one Republican state representative referring to it as a "constitutional crisis." Kristen Clarke, the President of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights, which works on voting rights and election law, tweeted that she had "never seen this level of sheer chaos in an election."

And as some election law scholars, like Ohio State University's Nate Foley, pointed out on Monday night, Ohio's decision to close down polls without rescheduling the primary could even violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States constitution.

In a Monday afternoon press briefing with his coronavirus task force, President Donald Trump said he believed it was "unnecessary" and "not a good thing" for states to postpone their primary elections and left it up to state authorities to decide. He also recommended Americans not gather in groups of 10 or more people.

Three other major states — Illinois, Florida, and Arizona — are also set to hold presidential primaries and other elections on Tuesday.

After Ohio moved to delay its election, officials in both Illinois and Florida confirmed their elections would proceed as normal.

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