Joe Biden wins Ohio primary, and so does mail-in voting

Ohio election
(Image credit: Megan Jelinger/AFP/Getty Images)

Ohio held is primary election on Tuesday, mostly voting by mail for the first time because the state is still in lockdown to halt the coronavirus pandemic. Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary — he is the only candidate still running — and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) fended off a primary challenge from Morgan Harper, endorsed by the progressive group Justice Democrats. In Maryland, former NAACP head Kweisi Mfume, a Democrat, won a special election to replace the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D), beating Republican Kimberly Klacik. Mfume had held the seat before Cummings.

Ohio's election had originally been scheduled for March 17 but Gov. Mike DeWine (R) postponed it, citing a "health emergency." Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said about 2 million people had requested mail-in ballots and 1.5 million had returned them by Saturday; 3.2 million people voted in Ohio's 2016 presidential primary. Turnout, LaRose said, "was better than okay. It was great." Ohio's GOP-led legislature had approved the mail-in election but rejected a proposal to automatically mail ballots directly to voters, as Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii, Utah, and Washington State do.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.