Black Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge slams Governor Mike DeWine for postponing Ohio's primary election over the coronavirus as Biden sweeps primaries that went forward in Florida, Arizona and Illinois where hundreds of poll workers stayed home and some polls did not open....Fudge's largely Black 11th congressional district includes Cleveland and she said that DeWine is "the new face in the effort to stop people from voting"....Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. are up from 97 earlier this week to 125...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black congressional district includes Cleveland, and Ohio GOP Governor Mike DeWine

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also at the top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, COLUMBUS, Ohio- Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely Black congressional district includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, is condemning the decision on Monday by Ohio Gov Mike DeWine, a Republican elected to office in 2018, to close polls in Ohio on Tuesday, March 17 for the state's Democratic presidential primary, DeWine doing so, he says, in response to health concerns as to the coronavirus outbreak. Ohio was one of four states slated to hold primaries on Tuesday, primaries also scheduled for Florida, Illinois and Arizona, all three of them going forward with Joe Biden sweeping all three states. On the ballot in Ohio are candidates for judge-ships, state legislative seats, Congress, health and human service issues, and more, including Democratic candidates for president. “We all are concerned with the spread of the coronavirus, as are the governors in the states holding elections today as their laws dictate," Fudge said in a statement on Tuesday. "Gov. DeWine’s decision to close the polls creates, rather than prevents, barriers to the ballot box." A trained attorney, as is DeWine, Fudge said DeWine "no longer respects the rule of law." She said the governor allegedly has known about the coronavirus outbreak for sometime, and did nothing, she says. “We’ve been aware of COVID-19 for some time, and people have safely voted for the past month, with much of that voting occurring during in-person, early voting," said Rep Fudge, one of two Blacks in Congress from Ohio and a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. "Knowing the potential risks, Ohioans were still casting their early ballots, even as recently as yesterday. " The congresswoman said that there were better options than closing the polls, and that DeWine and Lt Gov John Husted, a former Ohio secretary of state, are both deterrents to voting in Ohio. "Ohio, under John Husted," said Fudge, "became the epicenter of voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement. " "Now, DeWine is the new face in the effort to stop people from voting," said the congresswoman. Democratic U.S Rep Joyce Beatty of Columbus, the other Black in Congress from Ohio, took a more moderate approach and said in a statement that her office is simply on top of matters regarding the virus. Rep Marcy Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat whose ninth congressional district extends to Cleveland and the longest serving women in Congress, and Congressman Tim Ryan, a Youngstown area Democrat, did not issue public press releases on DeWine's decision to shut down Ohio's primary, Fudge, Kaptur, Beatty and Ryan the four Democratic representatives from Ohio, Ohio with 16 congressional seats in Congress, the other 12 of them Republicans. U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat and seasoned member of the Senate, was not outspoken on the controversy either, an indication that members of Ohio's Democratic Congressional Delegation are divided on the issue of whether Ohio's primary should have been delayed. And while the Ohio Democratic Party is also upset with DeWine's poll closing tactics, reports say that the coronavirus did upend the election results in Florida, Illinois and Arizona, and kept some voters home yesterday with at least five polls in Florida not opening due to a lack of workers and hundreds of poll workers calling off at the last minute in all three states combined. Whether Ohio's delayed primary, whenever it materializes, will upend voters as Congresswoman Fudge claims, remains to be seen.

Democratic presidential candidates former vice president Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont

The field of more than 20 Democratic candidates for president has now been essentially narrowed down to two, U.S, Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Biden, who was the vice president under former president Barack Obama, and is the front-runner who yesterday swept Arizona, Florida and Illinois.

Ohio aside, Tuesday's primary elections represented 15 percent of the total pledged delegates, 67 in Arizona, 219 in Florida, 155 in Illinois, and 136 pledged delegates available in Ohio. Biden picked up 305 more pledged delegates on Tuesday, and Sanders, 163. Following Tuesday's primaries Biden now has 1,111 pledged delegates, and Sanders, 796, a candidate needing at least 1,991 of the total 3,979 pledged delegates to win the nomination. Early last week the Gov DeWine announced that the first three confirmed cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, are residents of Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland. Since then several cases of the virus have popped up in Ohio, and in other counties such as Trumbull County where a 55-year-old man succumbed to the disease, a second case just announced there this week, and the patient a Black man. There are 169 confirmed cases in Ohio, but no fatalities, yet. The infectious disease, which has impacted China and Italy disproportionately, spans across all 50 states and New Mexico, and has infected more than 216,817 people around the world, with some 8,908 deaths worldwide. There are more than 8,019 cases in the U.S. alone. Some 125 people have died to date in the U.S. relative to the deadly virus, up from the 97 deaths recorded earlier this week. The governor's decision to close the polls on Tuesday follow his previous orders to close K-12 schools, effective Monday, and to forbid eating inside restaurants, coupled with a host of other precautionary measures suggested by state officials and the Centers for Disease Control, including the recommendations of avoiding gatherings of more than 50 people, staying home when sick, and getting tested if symptoms like fever and chills develop. How long the delay in the election will last remains to be seen, sources saying it might be in June at the latest, though many Ohioans have already voted either by mail or via early voting. “During this time when we face an unprecedented public health crisis, to conduct an election tomorrow would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at a unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus," DeWine said in a statement. The decision by state officials to shut down the polls in the pivotal state of Ohio was sanctioned by state Department of Health Director Dr. Amy, if not directed, and came in response to a lawsuit filed by two elderly Franklin county voters, Franklin County the largest of 88 counties statewide, and of which includes the capital city of Columbus. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye, a Democrat, sided with a GOP elections attorney and Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and ruled against plaintiffs Jill Reardon and Judy Brockman in the lawsuit, both of them over 65. The judge said the request was too late and in the twilight hour, the subsequent close of the polls Tuesday undertaken in part, said DeWine, to provide time for the case, which is on appeal, to make its way through the courts. The lawsuit argues in part that health fears will keep some elderly voters away from the polls and that it would have been unconstitutional to go forward. DeWine said his objective in putting a halt to Ohio's primary in the midst of a health crisis of large proportions was to protect the constructional right to vote of all Ohio voters. Some Black leaders have said that extending primaries in the midst of the virus protects Black voters and their constitutional right to vote, and that to do otherwise could violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which precludes racial discrimination in voting. Meanwhile, Ohio's Republican-dominated state legislature is discussing changing the date of the election, which it has the authority to do, within reason.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.