NY Dem presidential primary is on after elections board drops appeal
In this combination of file photos, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Del., on March 12, left, and President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on April 5. Credit: AP/Patrick Semansky
ALBANY — Now it’s settled: New York will have a Democratic presidential primary on June 23 despite having only one active candidate.
A federal court on Tuesday upheld a lower court decision reinstating the primary and Democratic commissioners on the New York State Board of Elections promptly said they wouldn’t try to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
That means the contest is still on — a victory for candidate Andrew Yang and supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who want the chance to elect delegates to possibly influence the Democratic platform in the presidential election.
The legal fight over the primary began last month when the Democratic commissioners on the state elections board voted to cancel the contest, citing health and pragmatic reasons. They noted all the candidates except for former Vice President Joe Biden had suspended their campaigns. And they said they saw no reason to hold an uncontested vote amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Yang and Sanders’ backers cried foul, saying the contest wasn’t just about selecting a candidate but also delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
They sued to reinstate the primary and on May 5 a federal judge ordered it so. Democratic commissioners appealed but lost that bid Tuesday. Commissioners Doug Kellner and Andrew Spano said they wouldn’t try to take the fight further.
“Commissioner Spano and I have decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court so we can focus all of our attention on the daunting tasks of managing the primary election in a way that minimizes the risks to the public and to election workers,” Kellner said in a statement.
The presidential primary isn’t the only contest on the ballot. There are numerous congressional and state legislative primaries as well. Some advocates feared cancellation of the presidential primary would severely suppress turnout for the down ballot contests.
