You knew it was coming — the March 31 primary runoff election was never going to happen in the era of the coronavirus.

Secretary of State John Merrill wanted this delay, Attorney General Steve Marshall said it could be done and the governor pulled the trigger.

Maybe it is prudent, maybe it is smart, but it is a terrible, awful, no good precedent that could be used in the future to delay elections for various reasons.

Sure, we will hear people saying we are in a “State of Emergency” — and we are.

But we have had other States of Emergency, and we will have more States of Emergency. What then?

There is no reason to believe anything nefarious is afoot, and I trust Merrill, Marshall and Ivey to make good decisions.

But what about a scenario where they are not in power?

What if we had a situation where our government was led by different people?

What if the top elected officials in our state looked like this?

• Governor Robert Bentley
• Attorney General Don Siegelman
• Secretary of State Nancy Worley

Those are all positions those individuals have held, and all three had major ethical and legal lapses. They are all felons or plead to lesser charges when facing a potential felony charge.

Would you trust them to make decisions like this?

Would you put it past them to declare a State of Emergency to give their campaigns a little breathing room from a scandal?

For my Republican friends, what if President Barack Obama did this?

For my Democrat friends, what if President Donald Trump did this?

Look at Ohio: A judge told their governor that they could not delay their election, but they did it anyway.

We should not allow something just because we trust the people in power now.

We should oppose things because we don’t trust the people that could be in power in the future.

What we tolerate, we promote.

This is a terrible precedent.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.