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.
The airline industry says it is contending with staff shortages that threaten to hamper operations amid the COVID resurgence, andDelta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian called on the CDC to revise its guidance for vaccinated workers who test positive from a 10-day quarantine to just five. Chuck Liberman, chief investment officer and managing partner at Advisors Capital Management LLC, joined Cheddar to talk about the current guidance on isolation and why he believes the omicron variant calls for more relaxed guidance given its reportedly mild symptoms.
Schools are shutting down in droves as the highly contagious omicron variant surges across the country. Denisha Merriweather, director of public relations and content marketing at the American Federation for Children, an advocacy organization for vouchers and tax credits for school choice, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the impact of remote learning on children. She argued that school districts have to be more proactive about the steps they are taking to engage students, and if they are unable to form better teaching methods, parents should be able to find alternative schools.
The boys discuss President Biden's plans to send out free rapid tests as the testing supply chain starts to buckle ahead of the holidays. Also, why aren't Americans having more babies, and The Matrix returns.
With the Build Back Better plan essentially out of the picture, economists are highlighting what the country might lose without the provisions designed to strengthen it. Among other things, this includes no more monthly payments for tens of millions of families, no universal Pre-K for 6 million children a year, and no billions of dollars in tax incentives for climate initiatives. Grace Segers, staff writer for The New Republic, joined Cheddar to discuss the various impacts on the economy without President Biden's spending bill.
Electric vehicle companies took a tumble Monday after Senator Joe Manchin killed Biden's 'Build Back Better' plan. Shares of Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian all fell rapidly as the plan had included significant incentives for the growing EV sector. Rich Steinberg, former executive at Nissan, BMW and Electrify America joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Michael Robinson, Chief Technology Strategist at Money Map Press, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why small and mid-cap stocks heating up during Tuesday's session is a very good sign for a stock market that ended the day's session sharply higher.
Coming off a 2021 campaign where the prices of Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies reached unpreceded levels, Bitwise Asset Management CIO Matt Hougan and OpenNode Co-Founder & CTO João Almeida join Cheddar News' Crypto Craze: The Year of the Token to discuss the ways the crypto market can soar even higher in 2022.
