‘Weird times.’ A global COVID-19 pandemic muddles the Florida primary. Will it matter?
Presidential campaigns canceling events in Miami. Poll workers packing extra rubber gloves. A debate without an audience.
The Florida primary has entered the pandemic phase.
After weeks of early voting, with only days to go until Florida’s March 17 presidential preference election, a global outbreak of novel coronavirus and a continuing surge by former Vice President Joe Biden have dramatically changed the landscape of the presidential campaign both nationally and in the state. Now, at a time the campaign should be bustling, it’s unclear what the Florida campaign will look like — or if it will even matter.
“These are weird times,” said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Peñalosa.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he will continue to campaign after heavy losses Tuesday across six states placed him farther behind Biden in the delegate chase.
His path to the nomination has shrunk and it’s unclear when, in a time of coronavirus, he will be able to resume the arena rallies that elevate his populist message. But he plans to participate in a Sunday debate in Arizona that will now be held without a live audience due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, which the World Health Organization classified Wednesday as a pandemic.
“Donald Trump must be defeated and I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen,” Sanders said in a Burlington press conference. ”On Sunday night, in the first one-on-one debate of this campaign, the American people will have the opportunity to see which candidate is in the best position to accomplish that goal.”
Sanders’ remarks came one day after he and Biden canceled campaign rallies in Cleveland as Ohio’s governor called for the limitation of large gatherings.
Sanders has not said if he will make a public campaign appearance in Florida, where as of Wednesday there were 23 cases of coronavirus. A planned stop in Orlando Thursday was scrapped after the AFL-CIO called off a forum with the two candidates, citing concerns for its employees.
“We relied on our best judgment about folks gathering in a large group at a time when everyone is grappling with the serious effects of this virus,” said AFL-CIO spokeswoman Carolyn Bobb. “And we prioritize the safety of our own staff — not only at the mass gathering but traveling back and forth.”
Biden, meanwhile, canceled a Thursday event in Tampa shortly after Anthony Fauci, head of the federal government’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that there is community spread happening in Florida, though Florida Gov. Ron Desantis disputed that. Instead, Biden is planning to give a speech about coronavirus in his home state of Delaware.
Biden’s campaign said early Wednesday that it would still hold a get-out-the-vote event in Miami on the eve of the Florida primary, but later in the day it announced that the event would instead be “virtual.”
Biden’s campaign, which also nixed a planned event in Chicago, said it changed plans at the request of elected officials in both Illinois and Florida and after consulting with a newly established campaign committee on health. A press release suggested future events would also be held virtually.
The scrapping of political gatherings in Florida and elsewhere reflected an uptick in precautions. On Monday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez told the Miami Herald during a South Florida stop that Sunday’s Arizona debate would go on with an audience and “more Purell than you’ve ever seen before.” A day later, the DNC announced there would be no live audience after all.
The Florida Health Department is currently advising organizers of large gatherings to take precautions, such as distributing hand sanitizer and urging sick people to stay away. A private March 16 fundraiser on Miami Beach was still on as of Wednesday evening, but it was unclear if Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, would make previously scheduled stops in the state Friday and Saturday.
The state has yet to report a case of coronavirus in Miami-Dade County.
But whether or not the candidates appear in Florida may not matter much in terms of results on Tuesday.
Biden appears to be far ahead of Sanders in Florida, a state with 219 pledged delegates. Two recent polls have estimated his lead over Sanders above 40 points in the state — one of the reasons Sanders’ path to the nomination now appears unlikely.
Sanders is not caving. He continues to run commercials in Florida and other March 17 states, including a Spanish-language TV ad.
And there’s little indication that health concerns affect voter turnout.
After eight days of early in-person voting and weeks of voting by mail, more than 1.4 million Democrats and Republicans had cast ballots in Florida as of Wednesday. More than 70,000 people voted Tuesday at early voting centers, according to state data.
Before early voting began, the Florida Division of Elections circulated election health safety guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the state’s 67 election supervisors. Those recommendations encouraged early voting and mail ballots (which at this point can no longer be requested for the primary). The CDC also recommended social distancing and frequent sanitizing of election equipment and surfaces at poll sites, which include 196 schools in Miami-Dade County.
DeSantis called on election supervisors Wednesday to either move precincts at assisted living facilities or find new voting locations for the general public at those sites. But otherwise, election supervisors in Broward and Miami-Dade County, the two most populous counties in the state, say they’re stocking up polling sites with hand sanitizer, hand-washing supplies and cleaning products to sanitize equipment. In Broward, poll workers are being given extra pairs rubber gloves, and have been told they’ll be sent home if they show up to any of the county’s 421 polling locations with cold-like symptoms.
Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee said Tuesday that voters with COVID-19 symptoms will be allowed to designate someone to pick up and deliver their mail ballot by filling out an affidavit.
“The election is going to go on,” DeSantis said Wednesday.
The last day of early voting is Sunday. Nearly 1 million voters in Florida have yet to return their mail ballots.
On Election Day, the CDC recommends voters avoid the morning, lunch-time and after-work rush, if possible. But Broward elections spokesman Steve Vancore said long lines are unlikely given that two-thirds of the vote may be in before polls open Tuesday.
“There’s no reason to expect large crowds because so many people have already voted by mail and are already early voting,” he said. “We are following every guideline being issued.”
Miami Herald staff writer Colleen Wright contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 5:09 PM.
