Secretary of State John Merrill is asking for an emergency opinion from Attorney General Steve Marshall on postponing the March 31 primary runoff election because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The health and well-being of the people of this state are of paramount importance,” Merrill said in a press release. ”In order to effectively practice social distancing, as recommended by the President of the United States, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the Alabama Department of Public Health, etc., the March 31 Runoff Election must be postponed.”

The CDC has called for cancellations or postponements of gathserings of 50 people or more over the next eight weeks because of the pandemic. Gov. Kay Ivey said today she’s authorizing state agencies to adopt plans to allow employees to work remotely from home to follow the social distancing policy.

Merrill has said there is no authority under state law or the Constitution to postpone the election. He said Friday there were no plans to postpone the election.

Merrill said again today there is no explicit legal authority to postpone elections, but requested the AG’s opinion for a better interpretation.

“I don’t have the authority and the governor does not have the authority, explicit authority, to postpone the election,” Merrill said. “So, with the new information that was introduced today by the governor about the outbreak and the steps that she’s taking with state employees, I felt it was important we get a better interpretation about what the potential might be in order to have that exercised for that reason.”

Merrill said he spoke to Ivey and Marshall before requesting the AG’s opinion tonight. He said he would make a recommendation to the governor when he gets the opinion.

Mike Lewis, spokesman for Marshall, said the attorney general had no comment on the request for an opinion.

Louisiana and Georgia have postponed their elections.