the vote is on
New York's Democratic primary is back on, with both Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang on the ballot
New York state's Democratic presidential primary is a go.
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that New York's Board of Elections can't call off the primary scheduled for June 23. In agreeing with a lower court's decision, the Tuesday ruling will put former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and several other Democrats back on the ballot even though all but Biden have suspended their campaigns.
The board decided in late April to cancel the Democratic primary, which had already been pushed from April to June over coronavirus concerns, because it determined Biden was the only candidate left on the ballot. Sanders protested the decision, but it was entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang who led a lawsuit to get the primary reinstated. A district court agreed with Yang's suit earlier this month and declared calling off the primary was a violation of 10 Democratic presidential candidates' First and 14th Amendment rights. The Second Circuit upheld that decision on Tuesday.
While Sanders had suspended his campaign and endorsed Biden, he encouraged supporters to keep voting for him so his progressive ideas could gain influence in the Democratic party. He, Yang, and any other Democrat who had filed to be on the primary ballot will be on the June ballot even if they'd since dropped out.