Court: N.Y. primary can go on

Lawyers for supporters of Sanders, Yang call ruling a victory

NEW YORK — New York’s Democratic Party leadership gave up trying to cancel the state’s June 23 presidential primary Tuesday after an appeals court rejected arguments that holding it during the coronavirus pandemic would endanger public safety.

Douglas A. Kellner, co-chair of the State Board of Elections, said he and the board’s commissioner would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after the ruling by the three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

He said they planned to urge voters to use absentee ballots while they “focus all of our attention on the daunting tasks of managing the primary election in a way that minimizes the risks to the public and to election workers.”

Tuesday’s 2nd Circuit ruling was praised by lawyers for backers of Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang, two Democratic presidential candidates who had suspended campaigns but hope to secure enough delegates to influence the party’s platform and rules.

“This is a big victory for democracy, and the importance of not undermining it during the pandemic. We hope President Trump is watching closely: don’t fool with the November election,” said attorney Arthur Schwartz, who had argued on behalf of supporters of Sanders. In other developments:

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is bringing on Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of civil rights leader César Chávez, as a senior adviser to help with Latino outreach and building out its operation in the states.

In Idaho, election staffers were checking on last-minute requests for ballots and keeping track of returned ballots as the state shifted to its first-ever entirely mail-in primary.

Oregonians were returning mail-in ballots for the state’s primary, and one of the highest-profile races was the GOP contest to be the nominee in the state’s vast 2nd Congressional District covering eastern Oregon.

Elections officials in Georgia’s most populous county agreed Tuesday to open polls earlier and expand voting sites on June 9, but not before the elections chief received input on risks to poll workers and voters from the coronavirus.