Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang challenged New York’s decision to cancel its Democratic primary, scheduled for June 23. The state chose to do so because it’s obvious former Vice President Joe Biden will win the nomination and the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged the state.
Judge Analise Torres ruled that New York must have its Democratic primary, finding the cancellation unconstitutional, and it must include “all qualified candidates.”
New York removed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) because he suspended his campaign in April. He wanted to stay on the remaining ballots to gain delegates as a way to pressure the Democratic Party to bend its platform to his radical ideas.
Sanders’ suspension left Biden as the only candidate, which left the former VP as the likely candidate to face off against President Donald Trump in November.
Yang’s lawsuit claimed the New York State Board of Elections “fundamentally denie[d] [voters] the right to choose our next candidate for the office of President of the United States.”
From The New York Post:
“[T]he removal of presidential contenders from the primary ballot not only deprived those candidates of the chance to garner votes for the Democratic Party’s nomination,” Torres wrote in her opinion.“…but also deprived their pledged delegates of the opportunity to run for a position where they could influence the party platform, vote on party governance issues, pressure the eventual nominee on matters of personnel or policy, and react to unexpected developments at the Convention.”
Torres admitted that the decision to suspend the primary due to the coronavirus “was ‘an important state interest.'” However, “’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.”
The decision to cancel the primary did not affect all the counties. Some of the counties had local elections on the ballots. Some of those candidates worried the cancellation would cause voters to “presume the entire primary had been called off.”
The board of elections did not comment on the decision. Chairman Jay Jacobs said he “obviously” disagrees with the decision, but still needs to review it.
The counsel for the plaintiffs hopes the board does “not appeal the decision,” but a spokesman for the board said “its lawyers are reviewing the decision and considering options.”
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