CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, COLUMBUS, Ohio- The Republican-dominated Ohio Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed legislation that precludes the polls from opening since they were shut down by Gov Mike DeWine for the March 17 primary election but extends voting by mail until April 28, a bi-partisan deal reached between party leaders and proposed legislation that also does things such as prevent disconnection of water services during the coronavirus outbreak and makes provisions for high school students to graduate.

Voters rights groups, who say the legislation is unconstitutional and disenfranchises voters by denying access to the polls, vow to sue.

The measure, House Bill 197, now heads to the largely Republican House for likely passage and was sanctioned by the governor, a former Ohio attorney general and U.S. senator who must approve and sign the bill for it to become state law.

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, condemned the decision by DeWine, a Republican elected to office in 2018, to close polls in Ohio for the state's Democratic presidential primary last week, DeWine doing so, he says, in response to health concerns as to the coronavirus outbreak.

Others applauded what the governor did, saying it was simply too dangerous to hold a primary election in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

Ohio was one of four states slated to hold primaries on March 17, 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," Rep. Fudge said in a statement issued March 17. "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 is the new face of voter suppression and that he "no longer respects the rule of law," referencing his decision to close polls even after a common pleas judge out of Franklin County denied a request in a Democratic-leaning lawsuit now on appeal.

She said the Republican 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. " Whether Ohio's delayed primary will upend voters as Congresswoman Fudge claims remains to be seen.

The field of more than 28 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, the nation's first Black president.

The March 17 primary election that went forward in states other than Ohio represented 14 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 March 17, and Sanders, 163. Following Tuesday's March 17 primaries Biden now has 1,215 pledged delegates, and Sanders, 910, a candidate needing at least 1,991 of the total 3,979 pledged delegates to win the nomination.

Since Ohio cancelled its primary, other states, though not all of them, have delayed their's too.

This ripple effect, said sources, is making Democratic National Committee leaders nervous.

Two weeks ago Gov DeWine announced that the first three confirmed cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, are residents of Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland.

There are now 564 confirmed cases in Ohio across 49 of its 88 counties, coupled with 145 hospitalizations and eight deaths.

The infectious disease, which has impacted China and Italy disproportionately, spans across all 50 states and New Mexico, and has infected more than 454,983 people around the world, with some 20,549 deaths worldwide.

There are more than 61,081 cases in the U.S. alone, the U.S now third in the world relative to the number of confirmed cases.

Some 841 people have died to date in the U.S. relative to the deadly virus, up from the 97 deaths recorded early last week.

The governor's decision to close the polls in Ohio follow his previous orders to close K-12 schools, and to forbid dining 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.

DeWine accepted responsibility for his actions.

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 last 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 seeks an extension of Ohio's primary and 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 safety of Ohioans as well as the constructional right to vote.

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.