Appeals Court Rules New York Must Hold Democratic Primary in June
The Board of Elections will not appeal this decision.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous ruling that New York must hold its Democratic primary on June 23.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo originally moved the April 28 primary to June when Wuhan coronavirus cases went through the roof.
The State Board of Elections tried to cancel the primary back in April:
Commissioner Douglas Kellner said the Democratic Party has settled on former Vice President Joe Biden as its standard-bearer, and holding a primary amounted to an unnecessary “beauty contest” that could put voters and poll workers at risk.
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The Board of Elections relied on a statute enacted as part of the state budget on April 3. It allowed the board, in light of the pandemic, to remove from the primary ballot any presidential candidate—and people running to support them as delegates at the party’s nominating convention—who had publicly suspended their campaign.
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang filed a lawsuit against the board, claiming the cancellation stripped the candidate and his delegates of their constitutional rights.
Sanders dropped out but wanted to remain on the remaining ballots to gather delegates as a way to persuade the Democratic Party to adopt his radical views.
District Judge Analisa Torres ruled in favor of Yang on May 5.
The Board of Elections appealed. But the judges upheld the previous ruling:
“After reviewing the record, we affirm the order granting the application for a preliminary injunction for substantially the reasons given by the District Court in its thorough May 5, 2020 Opinion and Order,” said the ruling signed by Circuit Judges Amalya Kearse, Dennis Jacob and Jose Cabranes.
“We have reviewed all of the remaining arguments raised by Defendants on appeal and find them to be without merit. For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the May 5, 2020 order of the District Court.”
Kellner said the board will not appeal this decision “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.”
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Comments
It would be poetic justice after all this to have Bernie win the primary. The apoplexy from the dem establishment would be so much fun!
I was just about to ask who thinks Bernie will win?
I bet Bernie wins, unless the Democrats cheat him out of another primary again!
You are so right. Bernie will get cheated.
The votes have already been counted. Surprise, Biden won..
This is an utterly ridiculous decision. Nothing in the constitution says there must be a primary. The primary only exists in the first place because NY state law says it should, and that same law gives the Democrat members of the Board of Elections the authority to cancel it when there’s only one active candidate.
So this means not only that the whole state has to vote on the 23rd, but also that there will be 9 days of early voting before it.
Which might have translated into some money for me, but it now looks like I’ll be out of town that week and unavailable to work the polls.
Thank you Milhouse for decreeing that others must give up their rights because you say so.
You and Governor Granny Killer are like peas in a pod. Only you use an ice pick directly while the Governor decrees others do his dirty work.
WTF are you talking about, you piece of sh*t? What rights is anyone giving up? There is no right to have a primary. Ever. Primaries exist only by the grace of state legislatures, and if the legislature says there shouldn’t be one then there shouldn’t be one.
Democrat judges don’t feel bound by the law or the Constitution. Which makes me think there may be an ulterior motive at work here (a last-gasp #NeverBiden movement?).
If that is the reason for the ruling I think it will flop. When Tara Reade made her accusations against Biden, the MSM/DNC axis wagons began protectively circling around Biden, and #MeToo went silent. Handsy Joe may make a tiny handful of feminist rank-and-file Democrats queasy, but there is no way the mandarins of the Democrat Party are going to let the dirty proles tell THEM what to do. We saw it with Bill Clinton – the more women came forward to credibly accuse Slick Willie of sexual impropriety the more of a rock star he became.
The smothering application of judicial precedent on any question even remotely affecting federal authority means this ruling would be likely to stand.
Just as a gardener at home growing food for his own table can’t hope to be exempted from the Commerce Clause; just as Arizona can’t pitch in and enforce immigration laws past presidents have chosen to neglect; just as Georgia must consult with the Justice Department about almost every aspect of its election laws; the federal judiciary will find a reason to tell New York what to do.
Thank past Congresses for deferring so much enforcement leeway to other branches of government, giving activist judges and bureaucrats the opportunity to undermine federalism at every turn.
Commissioner Douglas Kellner said the Democratic Party has settled on former Vice President Joe Biden as its standard-bearer
And here I thought the whole idea of the primary system was—for better or worse—to let the vox populi determine such candidates, rather than Party poobahs. Commissar Kellner seems to think otherwise.
The idea of the primary system is to help the two major parties figure out who has the best chance of winning the election for them. Therefore New York state law says that the Board of Elections (meaning, in practice, the delegates of the party in question), at its discretion, can eliminate candidates who are no longer running active campaigns. What’s wrong with that?
How inconvenient that the Screaming-D’s in NY might have to let their consituents have a voice, so they might know what that voice is.
The constituents might know, I mean. The Party Bosses already know, and don’t want a primary because the peoples inconveniently want the wrong thing — the sooner that’s forgot the better.
Somehow I can’t get out of my mind the notion of a Biden Ad / Biden Troll Ad: The Gaffemaster 2020!
It’s not a dicer. It’s not a slicer. It’s The Gaffemaster2020.
One imagines the Screaming-D’s would reply with a similar attempt to troll The Donals again with stuff he’s acutally said n done … making in-kind contribution to his election as they did last time.
A boy cand ream.