Biden-Sanders vote proceeds in 3 US states despite virus fears

Polls opened in two of the three US states - Florida, Illinois and Arizona - holding Democratic primaries on Tuesday in the face of a rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic that has cast a pall over the presidential nomination race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

A fourth primary state, Ohio, postponed its elections until June on orders of Republican Governor Mike DeWine despite a judge's ruling to the contrary, keeping voters at home amid the escalating public health emergency.

At a time when the government of President Donald Trump is urging people to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, election authorities braced for disruptions in the process.

In Florida, the largest and most populous state voting on Tuesday, some two million people had already voted early or by mail, and turnout was expected to be extraordinarily low.

Adding to the obstacles, state authorities had to move dozens of precincts from senior centers to protect against the virus.

In Illinois, Chicago election commissioners were scrambling to find election judges after about 850 informed the county clerk's office they wouldn't show up, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Arizona polls opened a few hours after those in Florida and Illinois.

Democrats are in the midst of choosing a nominee who will challenge the Republican incumbent in November's election, but doubts and concerns have undercut the process.

Despite DeWine's move to shutter polling stations in Ohio, he appeared to be a lone official voice calling for delay, and failed to win support from Trump, who said it was "up to the states" to make the call.

Ultimately, the president said, "I think postponing is unnecessary."
"We have no guarantee that there will be a time in the future when it will be safer than tomorrow," Ducey said Monday. "Democracy must go on."