Cuomo signs legislation setting Presidential primary for April, urges lawmakers to consolidate local, national primaries

Despite his protestations that it be held earlier in the year to “better serve” New Yorkers, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Friday setting the state’s Presidential primary for April 28, 2020.

“Although I believe that New Yorkers would be better served, and more empowered, by a presidential primary occurring earlier in the year, I recognize that certain national political realities prevent the state legislature from passing legislation to accomplish that goal,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo had initially wanted all of New York’s primaries (state, local, national) to occur in February but has relented. In his statement, he still hoped for consolidation of all the primaries into one.

“I believe that good government demands a consolidation of the state, local, and congressional primaries with the presidential primary,” he said. “I have worked tirelessly to make the ballot box more accessible to New Yorkers, leading the fight to pass and implement early voting, and to make Election Day a holiday. We recently moved the state primary elections from September to June to consolidate congressional and state elections on one date.”

He’s asking for the legislation to pass a bill that sets the April 28 date to be the date for all of the state’s primaries, claiming at least 15 states have a similar process.