Joe Biden’s sweep of primaries last night has given him a decisive and likely insurmountable lead over Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic nomination. And yet, as voters and election officials in Illinois, Florida, and Arizona grappled with confusion, closures, resignations, and low turnout yesterday, Biden’s victories were tarnished by the decision to hold in-person voting in the middle of a global pandemic .

Democratic in-person voter turnout was significantly down from 2016, unsurprising given the circumstances. Yesterday’s vote was mired in controversy before it even began, with Ohio’s Republican governor Mike DeWine declaring a health emergency and postponing the state’s primary to not “force poll workers and voters to place themselves at an unacceptable health risk,” while Arizona, Florida, and Illinois pressed on with theirs.

As the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths mounted in the United States and across the world, and as cities went into virtual lockdown, voters in these three states were hit with contradictory instructions: they were cheerfully urged to turn out and vote by Democratic officials and the Biden campaign, on the one hand, and on the other, darkly warned to stay home and avoid even moderately sized gatherings of people by federal and state governments, health experts, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).