(PresidentialWire.Com)- It appears as if the state of New York will hold its Democratic primary election after all.
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the state must hold its Democratic primary election in June as it planned, going against the New York Board of Elections, which chose to cancel the election.
The Board of Elections cancelled the primary, saying that all candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination had dropped out of the race, leaving only Joe Biden on the ticket. But that wasn’t entirely true.
While Bernie Sanders had suspended his campaign, he was very public about his desire to remain on the ballot for states that hadn’t held their primaries yet in the hopes of picking up delegates and exert influence over the policies of the party at the Democratic National Convention.
Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate himself, agreed with that position, and sued the Board of Elections in court. He said their decision to cancel the primary election “denies voters the right to vote.”
Judge Analisa Torres, of the Manhattan Federal Court, agreed, writing in her decision:
“They will be deprived of the right to cast a vote for an otherwise qualified candidate and the political views expressed by that candidate.”
Torres’ ruling says the New York Board of Elections must be held on June 23, and any candidates who were “duly qualified” as of April 26 must be on the ballot. That means Sanders will be there along with Biden.
Yang, for one, was happy with the ruling. He said:
“I’m glad that a federal judge agreed that depriving millions of New Yorkers of the right to vote was wrong. I hope that the New York Board of Elections takes from this ruling a newfound appreciation of their role in safeguarding our democracy.”
The state’s primary election was originally scheduled to take place on April 28, but Governor Andrew Cuomo postponed the primary to June due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The state Board of Elections took that one step further, though, when it cancelled the presidential primary completely, saying because there were no candidates other than Biden running, that it wasn’t worth the potential health and safety risk.
The judge ruled against that argument, though. Now, the state will have to get prepared for a Democratic presidential primary in a little more than a months’ time, and they’ll also have to put Sanders’ name back on the ballot. They removed his name from the ballot when they cancelled the primary.
Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, also lauded the judge’s decision, saying it “restored basic democracy” in New York. He further said:
“People in every state should have the right to express their preference in the 2020 Democratic primary. We have confidence that New York can hold elections in June in a safe manner that preserves New Yorkers’ right to vote.”
New York presents Sanders with the best chance of any remaining state to pick up a significant chunk of delegates.
