Thread by @Tylerjoelb

I know the "one year ago today" pandemic tweets are cliché, but this day a year ago was the crazy Primary Election Eve in Ohio — a day of mega confusion ending with @GovMikeDeWine & @OHdeptofhealth postponing the election 8 hours before polls were set to open.

What a mess.

There was so much happening all at once. Many polling sites were relocated at the last minute. 3/17 was set to be the first day that Ohio's schools were closed.

And of course, the general health fears that would've kept many people from voting

https://twitter.com/Tylerjoelb/status/1239705212761395201

To refresh your memory...Governor DeWine & Sec of State LaRose wanted to push back Election Day, but DeWine said he didn't have unilateral power to do so.

The state went to court, but a judge rejected the request that evening to postpone the election

ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/03/16/dew…

People assumed the judge would rule to postpone. So pollworkers in some counties were told Election Day was off following DeWine's presser.

When the judge didn't, it set off mass confusion. On top of there already being a pollworker shortage that week.

https://twitter.com/Tylerjoelb/status/1239698213935988740

That few hours between the judge's ruling and DeWine eventually announcing Dr. Acton's order postponing the election...I can't even begin to describe

I had pollworkers around the state asking ME for guidance if they should head to the polls to set up or not. Total cluster----.

Then came Secretary LaRose's actions following the postponement

He unilaterally announced June 2 as the new primary election date w/no authority to do so. This banner was put up on SoS website & many county board of elections' sites. It was totally false

https://twitter.com/Tylerjoelb/status/1240389566978240512

The legislature set April 28 as the new primary date

But even after it did so, I tracked dozens of county BoE websites still listing the wrong date -- all because of LaRose's blatantly wrong declaration of June 2 as the new date.

https://twitter.com/Tylerjoelb/status/1243176005541539841

This may seem trivial, but voter rights advocates reported hearing from voters who wrongly believed June 2 was the correct election date. Some people didn't cast ballots in the April primary because of this confusion. Maddening and unacceptable

The decision to order polls closed has remained controversial. GOP lawmakers still frequently bring it up as (in their view) one of the more egregious acts of gov't intervention re: COVID

GOP tried unsuccessfully to prevent this from ever happening again:
legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/le…

Ohio learned from the primary fiasco. LaRose led an impressive pollworker recruitment drive for the General Election & made sure safety protocols were in place @ precincts

General Election went smoothly. LaRose's office deserves credit.

But man, the primary was a mess. /thread

postscript: Remembering this moment from 3/16, when then-State Rep. Niraj Antani argued in court against postponing the election and blamed voters for not wanting to risk their health and safety to go to a public polling place.

Postscript 2 -- Legislature did pass a bill last September (& governor signed it) preventing another election change like this. It was one provision in a broader bill that I forgot about.

legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/le…