With Joe Biden standing alone?
(Bernie Sanders was removed from the ballot)
Why bother?
There will be voting for other down ballot races including for Ocasio-Cortez ‘s Queens New York House district….
Governor Cuomo has ordered absentee ballots applications be sent to New Yorkers….
New York on Monday canceled its June 23 Democratic presidential primary, an unprecedented step prompted by the coronavirus crisis.
The Democratic members sitting on the state Board of Elections agreed to cancel the vote for a Democratic White House nominee, but primaries at the congressional and state levels will proceed as planned.
That compromise should create a lower-than-average voter turnout, reducing crowding to protect both voters and poll workers, many of whom are elderly, said state Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs.
“It makes sense,” said Jacobs of the call to cancel the vote. “We shouldn’t have non-essential primaries. There is only one candidate who is running.”
Jacobs was referring to former Vice President Joe Biden — the last man standing among a once-crowded field of Democratic challengers — after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders waved the white flag while also lobbying to remain on the ballot in those states that hadn’t already held their primaries.
It was presumed that New York’s 274 Democratic delegates would fall to Biden, but Jacobs said the state Democratic Committee hadn’t yet made an official determination.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who on Friday directed the BOE to mail all New Yorkers applications for absentee ballots, declined to weigh in on the call…..
image…abc7ny.com
Sanders supporters would see this as unfair, since it probably would give more convention delegates to Joe Biden and fewer to Bernie Sanders.
It would have no effect on the nomination (absent a very-rare convention contest against the presidential candidate’s preferred running-mate), but it could be quite important in the convention committees that decide arrangements, the platform and rules for both the 2020 (?) and the 2024 Dem. Natl Conventions.
They are complaining already…Ya…DSD…
They could break the delegates up like 2/3’s Biden….1/3 Sanders?
Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, is suing the New York State Board of Elections in federal court after the state election commission effectively canceled the Democratic presidential primary there.
Yang, along with seven New Yorkers who filed to serve as Yang delegates to the Democratic National Convention, filed suit on Monday arguing that they should not be removed because they had otherwise met the requirements to be on the ballot…
More…
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Mr. Sanders had expressed a desire to remain on the ballot, however, and his supporters had launched an email, phone and Twitter campaign to persuade the elections board to go forward with the primary, calling its cancellation an affront to Democracy….
More…
As Democrats our goal should never be to reduce voter turnout. Ever.
Regarding the Sanders situation, yes it doesn’t make a bit of difference now as the primary is over, Bernie has endorsed Biden and the Democrats are united to defeat Trump.
But as long as elections are going to be held there should not be any effort to reduce turnout. Either have a vote by mail option for everyone and make it easy to do so–or cancel the primary altogether (which they cannot do in this case as there are primaries for non-Presidential offices).
Just my opinion here.