By Richard Winger New York Assemblymember Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island) has introduced AB 9108. It moves the primary for state and local office from September to June, to match the date of the congressional primary. Unfortunately it would also move the deadline for independent candidate petitions from August 23 to June 7. This would give New York the nation’s second earliest deadline for independent presidential candidate petitions.
Courts have invalidated June petition deadlines for independent candidates in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, and South Dakota. The New York bill will be heard in the Assembly Elections Committee during the week of …read more