1. Seven states' stay-at-home orders expire today
2. Oregon voters to decide statewide primaries May 19
3. Alaska Supreme Court rules gubernatorial recall effort can continue

Seven states' stay-at-home orders expire today

Although stay-at-home orders vary from state to state, they contain at least two common elements: 

• requiring residents to stay home except for essential trips or outdoor exercise 
• and closing or curtailing the activities of what the state deems nonessential businesses.

As we covered in Wednesday’s Brew, seven states have stay-at-home orders that expire today.

States with Democratic governors

• Delaware                     
• Louisiana                     
• Nevada                     
• New York

States with Republican governors

• Arizona
• Maryland
• Vermont

After today, 18 states will have orders still in place. Fifteen of those states have Democratic governors and three have Republican governors. Stay-at-home orders have expired in 18 states. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, 43 state governors issued statewide stay-at-home orders.

On May 13, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down that state's stay-at-home order in a 4-3 ruling. The court ruled that Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm overstepped her authority when she extended the state's stay-at-home order through May 26 on behalf of Gov. Tony Evers (D). Republican legislators brought the lawsuit. It's the first time a state court of last resort has struck down a stay-at-home order. Click here to read more about this case.

Here's another aspect of the coronavirus outbreak—the effect on federal Indian reservations. The Indian Health Service (IHS) reported 5,999 coronavirus cases at tribal or IHS medical facilities as of May 12. According to an article in The Harvard Gazette, "Tribes have imposed stay-at-home orders, curfews, and checkpoints to prevent the virus from spreading."

Tribal reservations are self-governing, sovereign entities that are separate from both federal and state governments. They are not required to adhere to states’ stay-at-home orders or other state policies where they are located. The website of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Department of the Interior says tribal laws and regulations can be more, or less, restrictive than state law, and tribes frequently "collaborate" with states on areas of "mutual concern."

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of American Indians and Alaska Natives was 6.9 million in 2018. The BIA estimates there are 326 Indian land areas in the U.S. administered as federal Indian reservations. According to the BIA, the largest such reservation is the Navajo Nation Reservation which spans 16 million acres in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many smaller reservations are less than 1,000 acres.

Our article on the responses of local governments to the coronavirus pandemic contains updates—submitted by our readers—of the policies certain tribes have implemented. Thank you to our volunteers for submitting this content! Can you help us gather and collect information about local events and responses in your area to the COVID-19 outbreak? We’d love to hear from you. You can complete our submission form, email us at [email protected], or add your information directly to our tracking spreadsheet.

Here are some other notable coronavirus-related updates since Thursday's Brew:

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it will publicly post CDC data on all nursing homes across the country by the end of May. The data will include suspected and confirmed cases and deaths at each facility.
• South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed legislation allowing any eligible voter to request an absentee ballot for the state's June 9 primary and subsequent runoff elections.
• The Save Our Schools Arizona ballot measure campaign (SOS Arizona) suspended signature-gathering efforts for a ballot initiative to limit private education vouchers. SOS Arizona suspended efforts after both the Arizona Supreme Court and a federal court rejected lawsuits seeking to allow campaigns to use electronic signatures.
• The Alabama Supreme Court announced that restrictions on in-person proceedings will end on May 15, and jury trials were suspended through September 14.
• The Indiana Supreme Court released “Guidelines for resuming operations of the trial courts,” a four-phased plan to assist local courts in planning to resume full operation after the coronavirus pandemic. The court also extended the suspension of jury trials through July 1.
• The Vermont Supreme Court extended restrictions on in-person proceedings through June 1. Criminal jury trials were suspended through September 1 and civil jury trials were suspended through January 1, 2021.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) extended a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures in the state through June 2.

Learn more

       

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Oregon voters to decide statewide primaries May 19

Voters in Oregon will decide primary elections next Tuesday—May 19. Because Oregon exclusively uses a vote-by-mail system, no election changes have been made in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Voters will select partisan nominees for one U.S. Senate seat, five U.S. House districts, three state executive offices (attorney general, secretary of state, and treasurer), 16 of 30 state Senate seats, and all 60 state House districts.

Voters will also decide nonpartisan primaries for three state Supreme Court and five Oregon Court of Appeals justices. In six of those eight races, the incumbent judge was the only candidate to file for election. One state Supreme Court and one Court of Appeals election each feature just two candidates, meaning that the primary winner will be the only candidate on the ballot in November.

Here are summaries of some of the battleground primaries we’re tracking in Oregon:

• Four candidates are running in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Jeff Merkley (D). Both of Oregon's U.S. Senate seats have been held by Democrats since Merkley defeated incumbent Gordon Smith (R) 49% to 45% to win his first term in 2008. Jo Rae Perkins and Paul Romero have led in fundraising. Perkins and Romero also participated in a Candidate Conversation, a virtual conversation to let voters get to know their candidates as people, powered by Ballotpedia and EnCiv. Click here to watch the conversation.
• Eleven candidates are running in the Republican primary for Oregon's 2nd Congressional District in the eastern part of the state. Incumbent Greg Walden (R) announced he would not seek re-election in 2020, creating an open seat. Walden defeated Jamie McLeod-Skinner (D) 56% to 39% in 2018 and Jim Crary (D) 72% to 28% in 2016. All three major race rating outlets view the general election as Safe/Solid Republican. Four candidates—Jason Atkinson, Cliff Bentz, Knute Buehler, and Jimmy Crumpacker—have led in fundraising and media coverage.
• Shemia Fagan, Mark Hass, and McLeod-Skinner are running in the Democratic primary for Oregon Secretary of State. Incumbent Bev Clarno (R), who was appointed to the office following the death of Dennis Richardson (R) in February 2019, is not seeking a full term in 2020. Unlike in most states, Oregon’s Secretary of State is first in the line of succession to the governorship. Oregon has no lieutenant governor. Four governors, including current Gov. Kate Brown (D), were originally secretaries of state who succeeded to the office after a governor left office early.
• Incumbent Thomas Balmer and Van Pounds are running in the nonpartisan primary for Position 1 on the Oregon Supreme Court. Justice Balmer has been on the court since 2001 when he was appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber (D). Balmer was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014 and served as the chief justice from 2012-2018. Pounds works in the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Court in 2018.

Alaska Supreme Court rules gubernatorial recall effort can continue

On May 8, the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a superior court ruling that allows a recall effort against Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R)—that began in July 2019—to continue. The decision overturned Attorney General Kevin Clarkson’s (R) ruling in November 2019 that the recall did not meet any of the legally required grounds.

Recall petitions in Alaska must satisfactorily allege one of the following grounds to be approved—lack of fitness, incompetence, neglect of duties, or corruption. After Clarkson determined the recall did not meet those requirements, the state Division of Elections rejected the recall petition. Recall supporters appealed, and in January, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth rejected Clarkson’s ruling. The Supreme Court’s decision came after the state appealed Aarseth’s ruling. Aarseth was appointed to the Anchorage Superior Court by Governor Frank Murkowski (R) in 2005.

Recall supporters have criticized Dunleavy over four specific actions: 

• authorizing state funds to be used for partisan advertisements, 
• failing to appoint a judge to the Palmer Superior Court within the required statutory timeframe, 
• violating separation-of-powers by improperly using the line-item veto, and 
• accounting errors in budget vetoes, which the recall effort alleges would have cost the state millions in Medicare funding.

Supporters must gather 71,252 signatures by July 3 to get the recall on the ballot. Recall organizers said they had collected 34,802 signatures as of May 4. Due to coronavirus concerns, the recall campaign began to collect signatures by mail on March 20. According to Alaska recall law, if a vote to recall Dunleavy is approved, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer (R) would become governor.

Alaska has divided government, with Republicans controlling the state Senate and the state House operating under a power-sharing agreement adopted in 2019.

Five other governors have been or are currently the target of recall efforts this year, including Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.), Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.), Steve Sisolak (D-Nev.), and Phil Murphy (D-N.J.). From 2003 to 2019, Ballotpedia tracked 21 gubernatorial recall efforts. During that time, two recalls made the ballot, and one governor—former California Gov. Gray Davis (D)—was successfully recalled in 2003.

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