Democratic voters should use absentee ballots in next month’s presidential primary, Gov. Cuomo said Wednesday.
The governor spoke a day after a Manhattan federal judge ruled that the primary must go forward as planned on June 23 despite a decision by the state Board of Elections to cancel it.
“My two cents to people is please vote by absentee ballot so you don’t have to show up,” Cuomo said during a coronavirus-focused press briefing on Long Island. “But then, if they have to show up, they have to socially distance, et cetera.”
The governor said the state will help local election officials comply with a recent executive order requiring them to mail out absentee ballots in order to help keep voters from going out in public.
“You still have to run elections — the court said we have to run elections,” Cuomo said “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have people go standing on line to vote.”
Last week, the top two Democrats on the state Board of Elections voted to remove all presidential candidates who have suspended their campaigns, meaning former Vice President Joe Biden would be the only name on the ballot.
The decision meant the state no longer needed to host a presidential primary, angering supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who hoped to send progressive delegates to the party’s convention in August to influence the Democratic platform and party rules.
Sanders suspended his campaign last month, but made clear he wished to stay on the ballot in the remaining primary states for that reason.
Language slipped into the state budget last month gave the Board of Elections the power to cancel the contest, which Cuomo had already rescheduled from April 28 to June 23.
Though the Board of Election had canceled the presidential primary, state and congressional primaries were still scheduled to take place.
The preliminary injunction reinstating the presidential primary — issued late Tuesday by Manhattan Federal Judge Analisa Torres — came in a lawsuit filed last week by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and about a dozen New Yorkers who had hoped to serve as delegates at the Democratic National Convention.
Torres wrote in her decision that she understood concerns about public health, but said they didn’t outweigh the constitutional right to vote.
“The Court is not convinced that canceling the presidential primary would meaningfully advance that interest — at least not to the degree as would justify the burdensome impingement” on the plaintiffs’ rights, she wrote.
Torres noted that election-related social distancing precautions have already been taken, including Gov. Cuomo’s executive order allowing every voter in the state to request to vote via mail-in absentee ballot.
Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s top aide, said Wednesday that due to the high number of mail-in ballots, there is a chance that not all elections results will be finalized and available the night of the June primary. She also said the National Guard could be called upon to assist local election boards.
Asked about the possibility of extending voting-focused executive orders to cover the November general election, Cuomo said it is too soon to say.
“Who knows?” he said. “Tell me what happens with the pandemic between now and November and I’ll answer the question.”