Georgia, Louisiana Postpone Primaries Over Coronavirus Concerns

States across the country are grappling with how to hold their presidential nominating contests while keeping voters and poll workers shielded from the coronavirus.

Georgia on Saturday postponed its March 24 primary until May 19 and paused in-person early voting, which had already begun.

Louisiana said Friday it was postponing its April 4 primary, pushing it into June, and later-voting states such as Maryland and Pennsylvania are trying to figure out how to safely hold primaries as events across the U.S. are being rapidly canceled to limit the virus’s spread.

Four states with primaries Tuesday—Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Illinois—assured voters they can safely turn out. They called for healthy poll workers to show up and provided guidance on keeping voting equipment clean, the chief election officials from the four states said in a joint statement Friday.

“Unlike concerts, sporting events or other mass gatherings where large groups of people travel long distances to congregate in a confined space for an extended period of time, polling locations see people from a nearby community coming into and out of the building for a short duration,” the officials said.