Which 12 states have statutes explicitly authorizing governors to postpone elections in emergencies?
Executive summary
Federal and legal scholarship agrees that a minority of states have statutes that expressly let a specified state official postpone or reschedule elections in an emergency, and multiple government and academic reports say that number is “twelve,” but the reporting provided here does not publish a single, complete roster of all twelve states [1] [2] [3]. The sources allow identification of at least ten states whose statutes or documented practice explicitly authorize a governor (or a named state official acting with or after gubernatorial action) to delay elections: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia — with other authoritative reviews indicating the total reaches twelve but not listing them in the excerpts supplied [4] [1] [5] [2].
1. The claim that “twelve states” have explicit gubernatorial postponement authority — what the sources actually say
A National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) survey summarized in the reporting states that “Twelve states have a law that specifically authorizes the suspension, delay, or postponement of an election in an emergency situation,” and the report names Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia among examples [1], while CRS and NCSL summaries likewise say “at least 45 states” have emergency-election rules but that “some states” explicitly grant governors postponement authority [2] [6].
2. The states that can be documented from the provided excerpts
Congressional Research Service and related state-law summaries enumerate a set of states whose statutes explicitly provide a mechanism for postponement: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, and North Carolina are summarized in a CRS/state-law overview [4], Kentucky and Ohio are named in the NASS summary as having gubernatorial or named-official authority to change timing [1], and Virginia’s code explicitly grants the governor power to postpone elections for up to 14 days in a declared state of emergency [5].
3. Why the count matters — and why reporting is scattered
Legal scholars emphasize that whether a governor may postpone a federal election is consequential because federal statutes and the Constitution set default timing, and states’ emergency laws vary both in text and in practice; some statutes explicitly mention postponement, others rely on broader emergency-suspension powers that have been interpreted to cover elections [7] [8]. CRS and law-review work note courts and federal rules may constrain or fill gaps, which is why some states avoided using gubernatorial action in 2020 even when emergencies existed [2] [3].
4. Practical examples from 2020 and how they illuminate the statutory picture
In practice, Louisiana’s governor used a statutory rescheduling power to postpone the state’s presidential primary during the COVID-19 pandemic (reported examples and news reporting) and Virginia’s statute has been used as a model for narrowly worded postponement authority [2] [5]. Ohio’s 2020 primary highlighted ambiguity: the governor and secretary of state disagreed about authority, underscoring that even where emergency powers exist, their scope and the correct decisionmaker can be unclear [3] [9].
5. Limits of the assembled evidence and recommended next steps
The assembled sources consistently say a dozen states have express postponement laws [1], and the excerpts allow confident identification of at least ten names (Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia) documented in the materials provided [4] [1] [5]; however, the full list of twelve is not printed in the snippets supplied, and a definitive roster would require consulting the full NASS report or a complete CRS/state-law compendium to verify the remaining states and statutory language [1] [2].
6. Competing interpretations and why wording matters
Some analysts treat broad gubernatorial emergency suspension powers as effectively authorizing election postponement even where the statute does not name elections specifically; others insist only statutes that explicitly mention elections or rescheduling provide clear legal cover, because courts have been reluctant to bless last-minute changes and federal election timing creates additional constraints [7] [8] [10]. That dispute is why studies cite both “at least 45 states” with some emergency-election provisions and a smaller set — twelve, by NASS’s count — with explicit postponement language [6] [1].