Name: Activists Are Fighting To Keep Bernie Sanders On The New York Ballot
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Activists Are Fighting To Keep Bernie Sanders On The New York Ballot

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×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×New York election officials are poised to remove Sen. (I-Vt.) from the state’s primary ballot on Monday, thanks to an obscure provision in the enacted by Gov. (D) earlier this month.The provision empowers the state’s election officials to remove from the ballot any candidate who has announced they have stopped running and is thus “” to win the nomination.AdvertisementNew York’s two Democratic election officials, Board of Elections Co-Chair Douglas Kellner and Commissioner Andrew Spano, are due to meet on Monday to discuss the matter. Kellner, who was appointed by then-Gov. George Pataki (R) in 2005 at the behest of the Democratic-controlled state assembly, told HuffPost on Monday that his job is to interpret the statute. While the law only states that election officials “may” determine that a candidate is no longer eligible, Kellner interprets that language to mean they’re effectively required to remove Sanders. “It’s not very controversial that has suspended his campaign,” Kellner said. “I anticipate that we will be removing him.”AdvertisementThe decision to remove Sanders must be unanimous, however. If, for example, Spano disagrees with Kellner, Sanders stays on the ballot.Spano, a former Westchester County Executive, told HuffPost on Tuesday that he is “still wrestling with it.” “I’m torn,” he said.On the one hand, Spano would prefer if the state’s county governments did not have to organize elections that could jeopardize public health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if the state adopts mail-in ballots ― as Cuomo is ― administering elections requires personnel and costs a significant amount of money, he noted. (More than a dozen New York counties would not be holding any elections in June if it were not for the presidential primary.)At the same time, he said, “I recognize that Sanders and his people have done a lot of work over the years and they’d like a voice and this is one way they get a voice at the convention.”AdvertisementAdvertisement“If they cancel, this is going to be horrific,” added Albro, who is active in the New York Progressive Action Network, a pro-Sanders coalition. “Trump will use this against Biden.”Moumita Ahmed, a Queens-based Sanders supporter and candidate for convention delegate, for the budget provision enabling Sanders’ removal.“Bernie’s delegates like me are running mutual aid efforts in the hardest hit areas like Jackson Heights and Jamaica Queens,” she wrote . “Medicare for All needs to be a [conversation] at the DNC. Let Bernie Sanders stay on the ballot in NY.”“If they cancel, this is going to be horrific.”- George Albro, New York-based Sanders supporterAlbro and other progressive activists in New York also fear it could hurt progressive candidates for Congress and the state legislature who stand to benefit from being on the ballot with Sanders. (Responding to the growing pandemic in late March, Cuomo the date for the presidential primary to coincide with the congressional and legislative elections.)AdvertisementIn Congress, , a middle school principal, is seeking to unseat Rep. Eliot Engel (D), a foreign policy hawk who has represented parts of the Bronx and Westchester County since 1989. And in the legislature, Queens housing counselor and radical activist is vying to replace Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D), a mainstream liberal with ties to party leaders.Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, did not elaborate on why the election provision was included in the state budget but rejected the notion that it was politically motivated. “We’re fighting a pandemic and have no time for conspiracy theories,” he said.Spokespeople for New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, both of whom are Democrats, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Albro is nonetheless pressing ahead with his efforts. He organized an to Cuomo and the board of elections from all 184 New Yorkers due to represent Sanders at the national convention, calling for Sanders to stay on the ballot, and a from a host of major liberal organizations and grassroots leaders in the state.“We are genuinely concerned about the suspension of democracy as proposed in a last-minute clause tucked into the budget,” the signers of the latter letter wrote.AdvertisementUnder pressure, New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs agreed in correspondence with Sanders supporters to argue against removing him if Sanders wants to stay on the ballot.Sanders has already articulated that he wants to stay on the ballot, but as of Tuesday, he had yet to weigh in on the specific case being debated in New York. The Sanders campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.“If Bernie says he wants to stay on, they’re not going to take him off because that would be asking for trouble,” said state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, who in October.This article was updated after the New York Board of Elections postponed its meeting on Sanders’s presence on the primary ballot from Wednesday until Monday.See GallerySuggest a correctionNewsletter Sign UpHuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox.Successfully Subscribed!Realness delivered to your inbox

×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×New York election officials are poised to remove Sen. (I-Vt.) from the state’s primary ballot on Monday, thanks to an obscure provision in the enacted by Gov. (D) earlier this month.The provision empowers the state’s election officials to remove from the ballot any candidate who has announced they have stopped running and is thus “” to win the nomination.AdvertisementNew York’s two Democratic election officials, Board of Elections Co-Chair Douglas Kellner and Commissioner Andrew Spano, are due to meet on...

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Activists Are Fighting To Keep Bernie Sanders On The New York Ballot

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