A week after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo postponed the state’s primary elections, the state has decided to allow all voters to cast absentee ballots when the election is held later this year. Cuomo said that he intends to issue an executive order that would allow all voters to cast absentee ballots without meeting the usual legal requirements. Typically, the state requires voters to meet legal threshold for why they can’t vote in person. Given the toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on the state, the governor has decided to relax those rules in order to accommodate those who may not be comfortable voting at crowded polling places.
“I have seen lines of people on television voting in other states. This is totally nonsensical,” he said.
All New Yorkers will now be able to vote absentee in the primaries on June 23. Cuomo says it's "totally nonsensical" that other states are still having people vote in person https://t.co/vSwcu9K40f pic.twitter.com/p4VST623hX
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 8, 2020
“God bless them for having such diligence for their civic duty that they would go stand on a line to vote. But people shouldn’t have to make that choice,” he added.
The news comes as the general election has been narrowed down to two presumptive nominees. The incumbent, Donald Trump, is on pace to grab the Republican Party’s nomination. Meanwhile, the once crowded Democratic field has shrunk to just one candidate, Joe Biden, after Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out Wednesday.
The postponed New York Primary Election is expected to take place on June 23, 2020.
