Merge those primary dates into one

Never mind what the leaders of the two major parties might find expedient. In New York, primary day for governor, state comptroller, attorney general, U.S. House, state Senate, and state Assembly seats ought to be unified — and made as simple as possible for voters.

This year, it all should take place Aug. 23, to which the Senate and House contests here have already been shifted by federal and state court rulings.

This is how the bizarre, bifurcated schedule for 2022 came to be: District maps drawn by Democrats seeking to increase their party's advantage in Congress and the state Senate were ruled unconstitutional, and ordered redrawn, even though candidate petitioning for those districts was already underway. Those contests were therefore delayed from the original single statewide primary date of June 28.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders didn’t find it to their political advantage to shift the Assembly and statewide primaries to Aug. 23 as well, after the state's top court deemed the legislative process tainted. 

But while the Assembly and statewide primaries can still be legally held in June, splitting the dates remains a bad idea.

On Wednesday, State Supreme Court Justice Patrick McAllister rejected a late challenge to also redraw the Assembly lines, saying there wasn't enough time. In doing so, he assured House and state Senate candidates that the court is working quickly with election officials on a practical “road map” for their Aug. 23 primary.

Now that the legal underbrush is cleared, Hochul, Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins should reconsider their opposition to a single primary date in August. A single primary day could bolster turnout, which makes the results more representative of the popular sentiment. Primary participation is anemic enough without voters registered to a party having to exercise their franchise twice in two months.

Then there are unnecessary costs. On Long Island alone, the extra public expense has been estimated to total more than $5 million.

Statewide candidates have been hiring campaign staff, fundraising, and polling on a certain schedule with set strategies. And the intervention of sudden news events over the course of another eight weeks creates an unpredictability that could affect outcomes. Then again, wins and losses down the ballot could similarly be scrambled if, say, a voter with a clear preference for governor, topping the ticket, doesn’t show up again on Aug. 23. Some argue that on its own, June brings more voters than late August. Perhaps having the governor’s race at the later date would make up for some of that deficit.

The essential goal of a single primary date will require quick action in Albany in what is already a disrupted and jagged election process dominated by craven self-interest. Lawmakers may as well take this one key step toward improving it — and stick to that principle in future elections.