Washington Post: Bernie Sanders is right. New York’s decision to cancel its primary is undemocratic.
"States typically do not cancel their primaries after every candidate but one drops out. .... New York’s decision is unprecedented in modern history….The transparently flimsy excuse made the decision even more unpalatable. The state board of elections cited the coronavirus pandemic as a reason not to hold an apparently useless election, but the election will still go forward — largely through absentee ballots — because many other races are on the ballot the same day. Public health is not served by taking away voters’ choices.
The decision also violates the Democratic Party’s rules for selecting delegates to the national convention…
The decision could also boost Trump, who has been courting Sanders voters via tweet, saying that the Democratic establishment is again fixing the race to ensure Sanders’s defeat. This gives him something concrete to point to. It also insulates Trump from the charge Biden levied against him last week that he intends to postpone the November election. Trump has denied he wants to do that, and now he can say that it’s the Democratic establishment that wants to cheat to maintain power. This is an unforced error that gives Trump a new talking point.
Biden should call for the party to undo that error immediately. ... If Biden can’t stand up for democracy within his own party, how can Americans trust him to stand up for it at all?
Federalist: New York Cancels Presidential Primary In A Rebuke To Sanders
"What has already been a bizarre election season just got a little stranger with the decision in New York…..Dampening public turnout on purpose is in itself a strange thing, after all, why wouldn’t the party and the people for that matter want as much input as possible in determining the down ballot races. It could also be a blow to progressives looking to challenge establishment Democrats since Sanders, their biggest star will be on the sidelines. Such a case is NY-16, where Jamaal Bowmann is challenging incumbent Eliot Engel... Hillary Clinton was frustrated in her attempt to woo those voters in 2016, in large part because many progressives felt Sanders had been cheated by the process. Erasing his name from the ballot in a state as large as New York may provide fuel for a similar fire this time around.”
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Opinions
Bernie Sanders is right. New York’s decision to cancel its primary is undemocratic.
By Henry Olsen, Columnist
April 28, 2020 at 2:56:08 p.m. EDT
Hardcore fans of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have long thought that the Democratic establishment would do anything to stop him. Monday’s foolish decision to cancel the New York Democratic presidential primary will simply fan those flames.
New York justified its curious decision, which the state Democratic Party supported and advocated for, by noting that Sanders suspended his presidential campaign this month. Since there was no longer an active contest, the Democrats on the state’s election board reasoned, there was no longer a reason to hold the primary. Sanders immediately protested, calling the decision “an outrage” and “a blow to American democracy.” He’s right.
States typically do not cancel their primaries after every candidate but one drops out. Democrats held their regularly scheduled primaries in 2000 and 2004 even after opponents of eventual nominees Al Gore and John Kerry left the race. Republicans held their primaries in 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2016 after their eventual nominees were effectively unopposed. New York’s decision is unprecedented in modern history.
The transparently flimsy excuse made the decision even more unpalatable. The state board of elections cited the coronavirus pandemic as a reason not to hold an apparently useless election, but the election will still go forward — largely through absentee ballots — because many other races are on the ballot the same day. Public health is not served by taking away voters’ choices.
The decision also violates the Democratic Party’s rules for selecting delegates to the national convention. Those rules require each state to submit a plan for the selection of delegates, and only delegates selected via that plan can be validly seated. New York’s plan established that delegates would be selected via the primary, with different numbers of delegates allocated according to the vote in each of the state’s 27 congressional districts in addition to a certain number awarded via the statewide vote. If there is no primary, there presumably can be no delegates — unless the state awards all the delegates to former vice president Joe Biden since he is, by their fiat, the only candidate on the ballot.
This possible outcome points to what could be the real reason behind the power play. New York sends 274 pledged delegates to the Democratic convention, the second-most of any state. Convention delegates vote on important matters such as the party’s platform and the vice-presidential nominee, on which Sanders supporters would likely have very different views than Biden backers. Sanders would likely have won a large number of New York delegates since Democrats award delegates to any candidate who gets 15 percent of the vote. Giving all the delegates to Biden would seriously weaken the influence of the party’s left wing.
Sanders explicitly said he wanted to remain on state ballots despite his decision to suspend his campaign so that he could amass delegates dedicated to progressive causes and thereby influence the party’s course. That’s clearly something the Biden campaign is worried about, as many polls have shown that policies supported by Sanders and his backers are unpopular with swing voters. Reducing the number of delegates from Sanders’s camp would theoretically let them craft a more centrist platform and help them in the general election against President Trump. Many Sanders supporters might even think Biden’s campaign was behind New York’s decision.
The decision could also boost Trump, who has been courting Sanders voters via tweet, saying that the Democratic establishment is again fixing the race to ensure Sanders’s defeat. This gives him something concrete to point to. It also insulates Trump from the charge Biden levied against him last week that he intends to postpone the November election. Trump has denied he wants to do that, and now he can say that it’s the Democratic establishment that wants to cheat to maintain power. This is an unforced error that gives Trump a new talking point.
Biden should call for the party to undo that error immediately. He should issue a statement demanding that New York’s Democrats reinstate the primary and keep Sanders’s name on the ballot. This would help him as he continues to try to unite the party for the fall campaign and also head off a new talking point for Trump. The longer that he does not do this, the more it will appear that he is behind New York’s undemocratic putsch.
Biden says he’s running the restore America’s soul. Regular, free and democratic elections are at the heart of that soul. If Biden can’t stand up for democracy within his own party, how can Americans trust him to stand up for it at all?
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https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/27/new-york-cancels-presidential-primary-in-a-rebuke-to-sanders/
New York Cancels Presidential Primary In A Rebuke To Sanders
The Democrats have cancelled the presidential primary in the Empire state, and once again Bernie Sanders gets the short end of the stick.
APRIL 27, 2020 By David Marcus
The Democratic members of the New York Board of Elections removed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) from the primary election ballot Monday, effectively canceling the state’s the June 23 presidential primary. Congressional and local primaries will still be held, but the presidential primary cancellation means approximately 20 counties won’t have to administer any contest at all.
The cancellation is a blow to Sanders, whose campaign argued the election should go forward. Although Sanders suspended his campaign, he committed to staying on the ballot in upcoming contests so as to amass enough delegates to influence the platform that the party will decide on at the already delayed Democratic National Convention.
In a statement Sanders said, “Today’s decision by the State of New York Board of Elections is an outrage, a blow to American democracy and must be overturned by the DNC.” He went on to say, “Just last week Vice President Biden warned the American people that President Trump could use the current crisis as an excuse to postpone the November election. Well, now he has a precedent thanks to New York State.”
As it stands now Joe Biden has 1,305 delegates to Sanders’ 939, with 1,991 needed to secure the nomination. However, Democratic Party rules may strip Sanders of about a third of his current delegates, statewide delegates in particular, because of his suspended campaign. These numbers matter because should Sanders come in at under 25 percent of the total delegates, his campaign will not receive seats on a host of convention committees.
The de facto cancellation of the New York State primary was achieved by removing all candidates other than Biden from the ballot, ensuring that the former vice president will rack up all of the 274 pledged delegates chosen by primary voters. Democratic board members who made this decision hope that an uncontested ticket for Biden will dampen voter turnout.
Dampening public turnout on purpose is in itself a strange thing, after all, why wouldn’t the party and the people for that matter want as much input as possible in determining the down ballot races. It could also be a blow to progressives looking to challenge establishment Democrats since Sanders, their biggest star will be on the sidelines. Such a case is NY-16, where Jamaal Bowmann is challenging incumbent Eliot Engel.
This comes a tricky time in the Democratic primary process when Biden, the presumptive nominee, is attempting to court Sanders voters for the general election. Hillary Clinton was frustrated in her attempt to woo those voters in 2016, in large part because many progressives felt Sanders had been cheated by the process. Erasing his name from the ballot in a state as large as New York may provide fuel for a similar fire this time around.
Biden also finds himself in the midst of an emerging Me Too scandal as former aide Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault from the 1990s gets increasing corroboration. It was reported Monday that a neighbor of Reade’s remembers a conversation about the alleged assault she had with Reade in the mid-1990s.
If the scandal should reach the point where Biden is no longer able to run, the entire primary process will be thrown into chaos. Sanders with the second most delegates will have a strong argument to make for being the nominee. But there are already whispers that the Democratic establishment would prefer someone else, maybe even coronavirus superstar New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said he had no influence on the decision to cancel the primary.
What has already been a bizarre election season just got a little stranger with the decision in New York. And once again, as so often seems to be the case, the decision by Democratic leaders, in this case the board members, hurts Bernie Sanders. How will his supporters react to the snub? It history is any indication it may not be pretty.
David Marcus is the Federalist's New York Correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, @BlueBoxDave.