New York Officials Weigh Delaying April Primary Election

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

New York officials are considering plans to postpone the state’s presidential primary election in April as fears over the coronavirus outbreak grow and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned against gatherings of more than 50 people.

Douglas A. Kellner, co-chair of the New York State Board of Elections, confirmed on Sunday that discussions were underway about the possibility of delaying the primary from April 28 to June 23 in the interest of containing the virus’s spread, but he added that no final decision had been reached. The decision ultimately would rest with the governor and the State Legislature, he said in an interview.

The discussions are underway as two states — Louisiana and Georgia — have already postponed their primaries and other states are weighing various delays or mail-in balloting measures to protect the public from exposure to the illness.

Democratic Party officials in Puerto Rico, a United States territory, said they would request a postponement of their primary from March 29 to April 26.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/us/politics/ny-voting-coronavirus.html?partner=IFTTT

[Squinch]

1. NO!!!!

[jimfields33]

2. Well if nothing else, this will delay the primary process

Bernie needs to have daily podcasts for New York voters during this delay. It may help him especially after last night. He had Biden say he’d ban fracking permanently. That was quite a positive surprise. Bernie was brilliant in getting Biden to commit to many of his policies.

[EarthFirst]

3. Yet another flawed system that is being exposed during this pandemic...

Hopefully at least a handful of these flawed institutions will be addressed and implemented once the dust settles.

[Bayard]

4. Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

Vote by mail

[brooklynite]

6. You can't

You can't

You can't

You can't

You can't

You can't

You can't

You can't

You can't

Vote by mail would require a change to the NYS Constitution, which requires approval by two separate legislative sessions.

[thucythucy]

5. I think this sets a bad precedent.

I can see Trump trying to delay a presidential election he will clearly lose, and the KGoP going along with it, and constitution be damned.

An alternative to postponing the election would be to increase mail ballots, and increase the number of polling places, thus diminishing crowd size. And isn't it time we expanded the number of hours and days that in-person voting is possible?

[brooklynite]

7. Nothing in the Constitution says anything about Presidential Elections.

All it says is the Presidential term ends (election or not) on January 21, and States have the right to choose their Electors however they want to.

[thucythucy]

8. Which makes me even more worried

about normalizing the cancellation of elections, no matter what the crisis.

If this health catastrophe is still with us by early November it will be all the more imperative to replace the current regime with people who know what they're doing and care about more than their own self-interest.