The Independent View: NY BOE and the Judge

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe moved the New York Congressional Primary date from September 11 to June 26 to comply with the MOVE Act, allowing overseas military ballots to arrive and be counted on time. Yesterday the judge criticized the New York State Board of Elections for its "intransigent refusal" to comply with his ruling. Quoting a line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke", he told the board "What we have got here is a failure to communicate."

He ordered the elections board to produce a calender in order for the election to take place on the new date. But the board, with two Democrat and two Republican members, failed to agree on how to comply his ruling and instead filed two two competing submissions. Judge Sharpe said he was left with no choice but to adopt the submission from the two Democratic Commissioners because the submission from the Republican commissioners "erroneously interprets" his order and provided only a partial calendar for the new primary date.

Under the plan adopted by the judge, the total number of days for the circulation of designating petitions is reduced by 10 days to 28 days and the number of signatures required to get on the ballot was cut by 25%.

The changes will go some way to satisfy concerns of New York City's Board of Elections who wrote the judge "present computer and operational systems and procedures do not have the capability to meet the June 26 date."

From Ballot Access News
Back in November 2011, a group of New York community leaders, and persons interested in government and elections, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, asking the Court to take over redistricting of U.S. House and legislative districts, on the theory that the New York legislature had proved itself incapable of doing the job in a timely manner. That case is Favors v Cuomo, 11-cv-5632. It is before U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry.

On February 10, the plaintiffs wrote a letter to Judge Irizarry, pleading for quick appointment of a 3-judge court, which would be needed for the court to take over redistricting. The letter says, in part, “The March 20 start to the candidate petitioning period is less than six weeks away, yet no congressional lines have even been proposed through New York’s legislative process. It is now exceedingly unlikely that a new congressional redistricting plan can be proposed and passed by the legislative redistricting task force, referred to and passed by the Legislature, signed by the Governor, sent to the U.S. Department of Justice and precleared, all sufficiently in advance of March 20 so that candidates and their supporters can prepare for the petitioning period.”

We still do not have approved redistricting maps and the state legislators have not determined if they will change their primary date from September 11 to the new June 26. With the Presidential Primary on April 24, will New York voters' have to go to the polls four times in 2012? Will Governor Cuomo veto the new maps, because they were not made by an Independent Commission, and force the courts to make them?