The Independent View: NY 2012 Primary Dates Update

The next court date is December 12, 2011 in the setting of New York's primary dates, United States v. State of New York, et al. Northern District of New York 10-CV-1214 (GLS) in front of Honorable Gary L. Sharpe.

After the Justice Department rejected a second waiver of the MOVE Act which requires absentee ballots must be mailed 45 days before an election, which will requires the existing primary date in September to be changed, the Republicans' want an August date and the Democrats' want a June date.

Jeffrey M. Dvorin, Assistant Attorney General, wrote a letter to the Judge on December 6, 2011:

Should the Court, at some point, nonetheless deem it appropriate to direct that the primary be conducted on a particular date, it should be mindful that there is a widely held view, among elected officials of both major political parties and public interests groups, that an August primary date could significantly disrupt election operations in a manner that could be avoided by holding the primary in June. It should also be noted that, for many years, New York's primary elections were held in June. Although the State of New York does not take a position as to the appropriate primary date, and remains hopeful of a legislative solution, the Court should have before it the fullest record upon which to render a decision should it reach the primary date issue. Accordingly, annexed to this letter are (1) a letter signed by the Speaker of the New York State Assembly and (2) an affidavit from the bi-partisan Election Commissioners' Association, to which the Speaker refers, each of which offers a factual basis and rationale for holding the primary in June. In addition, several civil rights and civic groups (Dkt. 38) and the Election Commissioners' Association (undocketed) have already submitted letters to the Court in support of a June primary. Any determination by the Court as to the primary date would involve the consideration of a highly complex pre-election process. The State, therefore, urges the Court to take into account the information in support of a June primary should it be deemed necessary to impose a Court-ordered date. Finally, the State respectfully submits that any order regarding the primary election schedule be limited to 2012, thus affording the State Legislature and the Governor an opportunity to set the primary dates for future primaries.