Focus on voting shades Biden victory in Ohio

With primary result never in doubt, all eyes on how mail balloting stood up

COLUMBUS, Ohio－Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won Ohio's primary on Tuesday, clinching a contest that was less about the Democratic nomination and more about how states can conduct elections in the era of the coronavirus.

The primary was the first major test of statewide elections via mail amid an outbreak.

There were reports of confusion but no widespread disruption. It wasn't like Wisconsin earlier this month, when voters were forced to overlook social distancing guidelines to stand in line wearing masks to cast ballots.

"Within the context of the threat of the virus, it's a decision that we will have made the best of," Republican Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio elections chief who chairs the bipartisan International Foundation for Electoral Systems, said of mail-in balloting.

The primary, originally scheduled for March 17, was delayed just hours before polls were supposed to open. Citing a "health emergency", Republican Governor Mike DeWine recommended that in-person balloting not be held until June 2. But amid legal challenges, officials moved balloting to this week while converting to a mail-in process since the state remains under a stay-at-home order.

Most Ohioans casting absentee ballots had to run at least three pieces of mail－an application, a blank ballot and a completed one－through the US Postal Service. Only homeless and disabled people were initially encouraged to cast in-person ballots at county election board offices, though anyone not receiving ballots by mail in time to participate could also turn up in person.

With his last competitor, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, leaving the race weeks ago, Biden has emerged as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and the Ohio results were never in doubt. Still, moving to a mail-in primary on the fly was watched around the country as states with upcoming elections grapple with how to fulfill one of the most basic functions of democracy, voting, while battling the virus' spread.

Partisan divide

Some governors have suggested they would consider moving to an all-mail voting system for the November general election, something US President Donald Trump has strongly opposed. Polling suggests that Democrats are now more in favor of their states conducting elections exclusively by mail than Republicans are－a partisan divide that has grown amid the coronavirus outbreak and may have been exacerbated by Trump's opposition.

Five states currently conduct all elections entirely by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah, but none had to adopt such practices amid a pandemic.

Meanwhile, Biden has won the endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the office she fell short of winning in 2016 in her bid to become the first woman elected as US president.

The endorsement, at an online town hall on the effects of the coronavirus crisis on women, came at a critical moment as Biden aims to raise his profile with female voters and other key demographic groups even as the pandemic ravages the US economy.

Clinton－a onetime secretary of state, US senator from New York and first lady－suffered an upset defeat in the 2016 presidential election to Trump, despite winning the popular vote.

She also lost the 2008 Democratic presidential race to Barack Obama, whom Biden served as vice-president.

Women favored Clinton over Trump in 2016, exit polls showed, and are expected to play a critical role in swaying the most competitive swing states in the Nov 3 election between Biden and Trump.

In a statement responding to the endorsement, Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said: "There is no greater concentration of Democrat establishment than Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton together."

"President Trump beat her once and now he'll beat her chosen candidate," the statement added.

Agencies - Xinhua