Presidential election 2020: Democratic party primaries canceled in New York

The primaries for candidates from the Democratic Party were to be held on June 23. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they were canceled. This publication writes Business Insider. Thus, New York became the first state in which the primaries were canceled.

For the abolition of primaries on Monday, April 27, members of the New York State Electoral Council voted. At the same time, New York will hold the midterm congressional and legislative elections scheduled for June 23rd.

Commissioner Andrew Spano said he thought for a long time, making a decision only on Monday morning. He worries about what could potentially force voters and polling workers to choose between their democratic duty and health.

New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said the abolition of the state’s presidential primaries would mean lower expected voter turnout and reduced demand for polling stations. “It makes sense given the extraordinary nature of the challenge,” Jacobs said last week.

In turn, both the State Democratic Party and Governor Andrew Cuomo said that they did not ask election commission members to make changes that might occur due to a little-known situation in the recently adopted state budget. This provision allows the New York State Electoral Council to remove from the ballot paper the names of any candidates who have suspended or terminated the election campaign.

The decision to repeal the primary democratic elections at the state level remains with the election commissars of the democratic states. New York accounts for 274 delegates promised in the democratic nomination process.

On the subject: In the presidential election, Americans choose not only the head of the country: who else

Senator Bernie Sanders announced on April 8 that he had suspended his campaign. In a letter, Sanders' campaign attorney, Malcolm Seymour, asked the commissioners not to overturn the primaries. “Senator Sanders worked with state parties, the National Party and the Biden Campaign (Joe Biden's 2020 Presidential Campaign - Ed.) To strengthen Democrats by aligning the party's progressive and moderate wings. His removal from the vote would hinder these efforts, to the detriment of the party in the general election, ”Seymour wrote in a letter that was received by The Wall Street Journal.

Board co-chair Douglas Kellner said the initial cancellation was "a very difficult decision." However, he noted that state law allows candidates to be removed from the vote when they suspended their campaign, as Sanders did. In addition, he approved prospective candidate Joe Biden. “This effectively ended the actual competition for the presidential candidate,” Kellner said. “And what Sanders supporters want is essentially a beauty pageant that, given the current health emergency, seems unnecessary and indeed frivolous.”

However, Sanders' senior adviser, Jeff Weaver, called the decision "outrageous" and also "a blow to American democracy." He canceled that neither the Democratic National Committee (DNC) nor the Biden campaign had asked for cancellation. “With a few months left before the primaries are held, the right answer should be to ensure the security of the elections - for example, sending all votes by mail, rather than completely abolishing the right of people to vote,” Weaver said.

And the representative of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) of New York, who in 2019 supported Sanders as a participant in the Democratic primaries, on Twitter called the decision "completely wrong." “There will be a primary election on June 23 in New York. This decision does not change the fact that people will still go out to vote, she wrote. "If New York doesn't want to risk, perhaps, millions of face-to-face votes, we should mail out ballots to everyone."

While Sanders paused his campaign, he still remains on the primaries and gathers delegates to be able to influence the party’s platform at the National Congress of Democrats, scheduled for this summer.

In addition to the official selection of a presidential candidate, Democrats convene several important committees at the congress to vote on political priorities. In order for Sanders and his representatives to get a seat on any of these influential committees, he must enlist the support of 25% of the delegates. Sanders is already at risk of losing up to a third of his delegates due to DNC rules, which require delegates earned by retired candidates to be redistributed in favor of candidates still participating in the race. This was told by Josh Putnam - a political scientist and expert on the democratic process of nominating.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has 1280 promised delegates compared to 947 Sanders, according to estimates from the Decision Desk HQ headquarters and the University of Virginia's Policy Center.

In the coming months, due to the pandemic, New York will be one of many states expanding the practice of absentee voting.

While New York law requires voters to have documented excuses for absentee ballots, Cuomo essentially rejected this requirement. However, he issued a decree that only increases the risk of infection with COVID-19.

Also, the New York governor recently announced that the state will send absentee ballots with pre-paid postage to registered voters. This should make it easier for New Yorkers to vote from home.

Jacobs said this is a significant change, but the party is ready for it. “This is a big process for us. We don't have many weeks before the start of the primaries, ”Jacobs said. "It will be difficult to do, but we will do it."