Some Florida polling places couldn't open as poll workers didn't arrive because of fears over the potentially deadly virus. The Palm Beach County elections department said many workers failed to show up in at least five locations. The county had 800 volunteers back out as of Monday, with just 100 new volunteers offering to take their place. (Photo by EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images)
Only three of the four scheduled primaries will take place today, and each of those states has confirmed multiple cases of the novel coronavirus.
Millions of voters in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois have already cast ballots for the 441 Democratic pledged delegates up for grabs in today and those who haven't are expected to head to the polls. Today's vote is the first held as in the nation since the coronavirus changed life in the U.S. There is concern about turnout, particularly after the Trump Administration yesterday advised avoiding groups of more than 10 people.
According to the Associated Press, the Palm Beach County elections department in Florida said workers were no shows in at least five polling sites after 800 volunteers had already backed out on Monday due to virus fears.
Ohio, originally scheduled to vote today, called off its primary late last night after the health director declared an emergency. A judge had denied a last-minute request to delay the primary, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine later said the Health Department Director Amy Acton could "order the polls closed as a health emergency," which she inevitably did.
The 12 hours of back and forth in Ohio that led, finally, to a delay in voting, was so chaotic a local paper reminded voters that "Today is NOT really Election Day."
In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker told reporters the Illinois primary would move forward as planned with extra precautions in place to clean machines and offer hand sanitizers. Illinois had seen increased early voting numbers in Chicago and Cook County.
Government officials are imploring citizens to take advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seriously (which advised canceling events of more than 50 people) but also encouraging voters to head to the polls — safely.
Votes today are moving forward, but with a few changes. To encourage safe voting, polling sites in Florida, Illinois, and Arizona senior centers had been moved to separate at-risk elderly voters from the general population. Arizona recommended that voters cast mail ballots or drop off a vote-by-mail ballot at polling centers and Illinois will allow all nursing home residents in Chicago and Cook County to vote-by-mail.
Ohio is the fourth state to move its primary, joining Louisiana, Kentucky, and Georgia in postponing primaries.
Arizona is one of a few states believed to be competitive in the general election. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had campaigned there before the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., and each candidate's response to the outbreak could potentially help voters see how they would respond to a crisis. Biden is ahead of Sanders in polling in all three states.
Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and host of the Black Diplomats podcast joins Cheddar News to discuss Russia's attempt to invade Ukraine.
With an increasing number of teachers and staff calling out sick by the day, the state of Oklahoma is turning to an unusual solution. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order that permits state employees to work as substitute teachers. Shaily Baranwal, founder and CEO of Elevate K-12, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the stance of the U.S. and its allies should Russia make any forays into Ukraine, a seeming response to President Biden's remarks that should Putin engage in something short of a full invasion, there might be some indecision among allied nations regarding what to do. Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the think tank Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar to discuss the difficulty faced by Blinken wrangling unity as tensions run high in the region. "There'll be a smaller incursion, and the president implied, there'll be a weaker response because our European allies have created this horrible situation where they are dependent on Moscow for their gas supply," Cohen explained.
During a nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, President Biden spoke on his accomplishments and challenges from the first year of his presidency, and what his administration hopes to accomplish in the coming year. However, his approval ratings are underwater as COVID remains a big concern for voters — as does inflation, noted Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. "The public thinks [inflation] is priority number one, and the administration is concerned about it, they talk about it, but they're not spending enough time on it as far as the public is concerned," said Bevan.
The drama surrounding tennis star Novak Djokovic continues after he was deported from Australia over the weekend due to the nation's COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Djokovic was forced to leave the country on the eve of what was to be his first match in defense of his Australian Open title after three judges ruled in favor of his removal and revealed their reasoning for doing so. Adding to his woes, a law recently passed in France is putting his chances of defending his French Open title in jeopardy. The director of Marist's Center for Sports Communication, Jane McManus, joined Cheddar to discuss the ongoing fallout.
As the midterm elections get ever closer, candidates have been getting creative with their campaigns to stick out and to connect with voters. Gary Chambers, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, has definitely attracted attention with an advertisement featuring him smoking a blunt, making a point about the inequity of anti-cannabis laws. "We wanted to bring the seriousness of the moment," he said of the ad. "But we also wanted to make sure that people understand that there are 19 states that are legal right now but Black people and brown people are being over-incarcerated in mostly Southern and Midwestern states in America for cannabis possession."
If some members of Congress have their way, there might finally be a 'TLDR' on sites' terms of service, introduced by the terms-of-service labeling, design, and readability act – or TLDR for short. With this act, users will actually understand what they're agreeing to or the many ways in which their data is being used before pressing 'accept.' J.D. sat down with co-sponsor of the bill and Senator Bill Cassidy, to discuss.
President Joe Biden's first year in office is wrapping up. What has he achieved, and what else remains on the table while the Democrats have control of Washington? Amid an ongoing pandemic and rising inflation, Biden's approval rating is at an all-time low and his party is plagued by infighting. Will he be able to continue pushing key parts of his agenda? Paul Glastris, former Bill Clinton speechwriter & Editor-in-chief of 'Washington Monthly,' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the president's achievements in his first year, where he's fallen short, and what he must do in order to get more of his agenda signed into law.
Tech giants Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple are faced with a bipartisan antitrust legislation effort underway in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The companies stand accused of promoting their own goods and services over smaller competitors on their platforms, holding too much monopolistic power via their app stores and services. Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a technology industry trade group, joined Cheddar to argue that the bills that are being debated currently could end up hurting consumers, rather than helping.
