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At a press conference Wednesday morning, Gov. Kay Ivey announced the Alabama primary runoff election would be postponed until July 14.

The runoff election had been scheduled for March 31 but due to the coronavirus and in the interest of public safety, Ivey made the decision to postpone with the consultation of Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

“During this pandemic, we have been advised to limit public gatherings to groups fewer than 25 and (President Donald Trump) is even lowing that number to 10,” Ivey said at Wednesday’s press conference. “(Holding the election at the regularly scheduled time) means we would be taking human health risks just by having people stand in line waiting to vote. I’m also aware that our faithful poll workers are often retired and many among those have the highest risk of disease.”

Absentee ballots will be made available beginning Wednesday and will be counted at the appropriate time during the July 14 runoff. Ivey said a big reason for postponing the election was to ensure the results are not affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Dealing with this public crisis has had ripple effects affecting every aspect of our daily lives,” Ivey said. “Your state government is working to keep our employees safe by keeping a continuity of government open and available to our citizens. One aspect of how this pandemic is affecting Alabama is the potential to affect the outcome of the March 31 primary runoff election. … This is not a decision I came to lightly.”

Locally, there are runoffs in District 2 and District 4 for county commission.