New York Cancels Presidential Primary After Bernie Asks to Stay on Ballot

The Empire State may be citing coronavirus as the official reason for this maneuver, but the Bernie Bros aren’t likely buying it.

Despite the fact that Sanders has stopped campaigning and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 race, the Vermont Senator had asked to remain on the ballot for the New York State presidential primary.  This could very well be due to the unprecedented arrangement between Biden and Sanders in which the former is allowing the latter to hold onto his earned delegates as opposed to pledging them to the presumptive nominee.

This would allow Sanders to remain influential within the party through the Democratic National Convention, with his radical wing of the party hoping to inject some of their beliefs into the 2020 platform.

Now, New York State is taking action that could curb the democratic socialist’s influence.

The move by Democrats on the New York State Board of Elections — nixing the election scheduled for June 23 — followed Sanders’ announcement earlier this month that he would suspend his presidential campaign, rendering former Vice President Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee.

With this decision, New York became the first state to cancel its primary altogether, though 16 states have postponed their primaries amid the pandemic and many have taken steps to encourage voting by mail.

The announcement drew fire from Sanders supporters. On Sunday, Sanders’ campaign asked the New York State Board of Elections to let his name remain on the Democratic primary ballot, saying doing so would impede “efforts to unify the Democratic Party in advance of November elections.”

“It is completely wrong for the BOE to cancel New York’s Presidential Primary,” tweeted New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had endorsed Sanders in the race. “This decision is not informed by public health: the state is still holding elections for every other seat that day, & so far the only way your ballot will 100% be counted in NY is to vote in person!”

Sanders and his supporters have long suspected the Democratic Party of conspiring against them, and there is little doubt that his move by New York State will bring ever more criticism to the surface.