Justice Announces State to Change Primary Election Date to June 9; Schools to Stay Shut through April 30
By Jeff Toquinto on April 01, 2020 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
Governor Jim Justice announced today that due to the Coronavirus pandemic that the May primary election will be moved into the following month. He also moved the closing of schools to April 30 to coincide with President Donald Trump’s announcement of utilizing social distancing until that date.
After saying the virus situation remains “a very fluid situation” and continues to be so, he immediately began to talk about changes in the primary election. The election was initially set for May 12. Now, it’s been delayed for 27 days to June 9.
“I was absolutely hopeful and very supportive of trying to do election on May 12. I felt like we could do and could continue, but it’s absolutely apparent that it’s the wrong thing,” said
The reason for the June 9 date is that it’s the first Tuesday after all the schools across West Virginia are set to be closed – if they reopen, said Justice.
“I’m still helpful all of our kids and teachers can go back to school,” said Justice.
As for the voting, Justice said the moves were made on the election to allow people to vote the way they’ve always voted. He said it’s greatly important to seniors who “treasure the value to vote.”
Justice said his decision came after meeting with state medical professionals about the May 12 primary. He said the question he asked had an answer that led to the decision.
“I asked if by May 12 can people safely vote at their primary polling place. The answer was unequivocally no,” said Justice.
Justice added the current absentee ballot process will continue. He said that, accompanied by the primary date change, will hopefully lead to a record turnout.
As for the schools, they will be in the current situation of online instruction and at-home instruction until the end of April. He said that mirrors Trump’s comments of moving the social distancing guideline back and after his “gloom” comments on the country facing as many as up to 240,000 deaths.
Justice also said that Tuesday saw a percentage jump in positive cases reported from the average of 4 percent. He said on Tuesday the average was 6.7 percent.
Justice also said the state’s economic condition at the moment is better than it was after January and February when he said the state was nearly $50 million in the hole. However, with March having a surplus he said the shortfall is currently $6.9 million
“We felt like we were moving into a surplus again,” said Justice. Whether that can be maintained amidst the Coronavirus situation is likely going to be difficult. Justice said later in the press conference that more than 90,000 unemployment claims have been filed in the state in March. The average, state officials say for a month, is 5,000.
Below is the video of today's press conference.
Click HERE for the governor's press release from the conference.
