As the coronavirus continues to spread in Ohio, many elderly Ohioans thinking of voting in the state’s presidential primaries next week may need to find a new polling location.
“I am ordering that certain polling locations which are senior citizen living and nursing facilities be relocated for the upcoming March 17th Ohio primary,” Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. “I just sent detailed instruction to all 88 county board of elections so that they have plenty of time to prepare for this important and necessary change.”
The state will move 128 voting booths out of these locations, according to statenews.org.
LaRose said he came to this decision after consulting with Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health.
Furthermore, LaRose is working with the county board of election leaders on how to best sanitize polling stations. People who go into vote will be provided hand sanitizer, according to the secretary of state.
During his Tuesday press conference, the secretary of state said people can do early voting or at home ballots. Early voting is available until Monday at 2:00 p.m.
Many people took advantage of the early voting period in Ohio. LaRose announced on Tuesday that 194,522 votes had been done statewide. In addition, 336,531 absentee ballots had been requested by-mail or in-person, according to the Ohio Secretary of State Office press release.
These numbers are up from 2016 where 173,497 absentee ballots were cast, and 328,620 people requested absentee ballots
Currently, the Buckeye State has four cases of the coronavirus, and 24 people are being monitored for it. DeWine announced Wednesday that he was going to issue a public order that banned mass gatherings in the state.
Here is a list of new polling locations in Ohio:
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “People Voting” by Wyofile. CC BY 2.0.
