Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said Monday the state’s primary election would be postponed.
“Today, Governor (Andy) Beshear and I agreed to delay the primary election originally scheduled for May 19 to June 23,” Adams said in a video posted to Twitter.
Kentucky joins Louisiana and Georgia in postponing their primaries over fears surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, Ohio’s governor on Monday recommended delaying the state’s primary, which is set to take place on Tuesday.
Visit CNN’s Election Center for full coverage of the 2020 race
Adams said Kentucky law allows the secretary of state and governor to jointly act to change the time of an election due to a state of emergency.
“Postponing the primary was not an easy decision,” Adams says in the video, “but the Republican secretary of state and Democratic governor agreed, and so do county clerks of both parties, and they are our front-line election administrators.”
Adams said he hopes the delay will allow the state “to have a normal election.” The delay, he said, would allow him and the state board of elections and county clerks “time to assess what changes we must make to ensure a successful primary election.”
“There could be more changes,” Adams said, “but this was a first step to buy us time and keep our citizens as safe as possible.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday recommended that no gatherings with 50 people or more take place for the next eight weeks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The agency said these gatherings include conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings and other types of assemblies.
Also, the White House on Monday advised all Americans to avoid groups of more than 10 and urged older people to stay at home altogether in a set of new guidelines designed to fight a spreading coronavirus outbreak.
This story is breaking and will be updated.