Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday signed an executive order making temporary changes to election procedures in New York in an effort to help reduce the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, and person-to-person contact.
Under the new order, the candidate petitioning process will be suspended effective 5 p.m. March 17, for the June primaries for congressional, state senate, state assembly, and judicial races. The executive order also modifies the signature requirements for ballot access, meaning candidates will only need to collect 30 percent of the statutory threshold.
This election cycle, candidates running for Congress will also only need 375 signatures instead of 1,250. State Senate candidates will only need 300 signatures instead of 1,000. For Assembly, candidates will only need 150 signatures instead of 500.
Deadlines and procedures will also be changed in order to better allow New Yorkers to vote absentee for the Queens Borough President special election on March 24. The current deadline to register to vote absentee will now be extended to March 23, the day before the special election. Absentee votes must be postmarked or delivered in person up until the day of the election on March 24.
“This executive order modifies the election process in a way that both protects public health and ensures the democratic process remains healthy and strong regardless of the ongoing pandemic.”
“The more tests we take, the more that number will go up,” Cuomo said. “Nobody believes there are only 500 cases of coronavirus in New York today. We believe there are thousands of people who have coronavirus, maybe tens of thousands.”