The Independent View: NY Will Try to Change the Primary Date in 2014

UPDATE

On January 31 2014, New York Senate Republicans submitted legislation to have New York’s primaries in August instead of September or June.

New York State Senator Thomas O’Mara (R-Elmira) introduced S6519, which would give New York an August primary for congress, state, and local office. The bill leaves the independent petition deadline in early August. The bill is supported by all the New York Senate Republicans.

The bill calls for primary elections for federal, state and local offices to be held the third Tuesday in August.

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Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell announced that legislation to change New York’s primary election date to June passed the Assembly and called on County Legislatures to support the legislation as it moves to the Senate.

“Holding multiple primaries is an unfunded mandate for localities across the state that is not only unnecessary, but harmful to the institution of voting,” Assemblywoman Russell said. “This is a situation in which county governments should get involved and let the legislature know that they support this common sense solution.”

Assembly bill A.8198 consolidates the election calendar so that state and federal primaries are held on the same day, the fourth Tuesday in June. Holding a single June primary will save taxpayers almost $50 million and ensure that military personnel have ample time to participate in our elections, Assemblywoman Russell noted.

In 2009, the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act was passed, requiring that absentee ballots be in the hands of overseas military personnel 45 days prior to a general election. Currently, New York’s September state primary election day is not in compliance with this law because it falls too close to the deadline for transmitting military and overseas absentee ballots. New York State was granted a waiver from the MOVE Act in 2010, however, a similar request was denied in 2012 and a federal court imposed a June primary date in New York for federal offices.*nbsp; The Assembly’s bill would bring primaries for statewide office in line with the act.

“While it’s unacceptable for voting to be made more difficult than it needs to be, it’s unconscionable to hamper our troop’s ability to participate in the very democracy they defend,” Assemblywoman Russell said. “This bill protects our troop’s ability to vote and saves county governments money that they can put to better use maintaining infrastructure and ensuring public safety.”

Senate Republicans and the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which share control of the chamber, have balked at the proposal. Senate Republicans said it would be ill advised to have a primary in June which is near the end of the six-month legislative session in Albany.

“We continue to believe that a June primary would mean that many lawmakers, especially New York City Democrats whose primary races are often more competitive than their general elections, will choose politics over governing and disrupt state legislative business during the budget and busy end-of-session activities,” said GOP spokesman Scott Reif.

IDC Leader Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, agreed. “Senator Klein does not believe we should hold a primary during one of the busiest and most important stretches of the legislative session,” spokesman Eric Soufer said in a statement.

Statewide seats for governor, attorney general and comptroller are on the November ballot. So too are all 213 legislative seats and 27 congressional seats.