NY-20: Could the Special Election Be Postponed? (Updated)

That’s what the AP is reporting tonight:

A U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit could delay next week’s special election in the 20th Congressional District because military and overseas absentee voters might not have enough time for their votes to be counted.

The complaint says the Department of Defense has determined that overseas voters need at least 30 days to receive and return ballots. The DoD recommends at least 45 days.

In New York, a special election must happen within 30 days of the governor calling for it. The ballot for this vote was certified March 11.

Republican Jim Tedisco is running against Democrat Scott Murphy in the March 31 election.

The state Board of Elections is still reviewing the complaint. No court date has been set.

A postponement would throw a nice little wrench into the spending plans of both candidates and the various outside committees and PACs who anticipated a March 31st vote.

Can anyone remember the last time a special election was postponed due to court order this close to its scheduled election day? I’m having a hard time thinking of any examples.

(Hat-tip: TAP)

UPDATE: The Hill chimes in with their own piece, suggesting that the likeliest course would not be a postponement of the entire election, but a court-ordered extension of the deadline for receiving absentee ballots from April 7th to April 13th. That makes more sense to me.

15 thoughts on “NY-20: Could the Special Election Be Postponed? (Updated)”

  1. … to have military men and women overseas be able to get their ballot, return it, and have it counted within a month.  Or maybe I’m being naive about military and electoin board bureaucracies.  Either way, if having the election next week would would prevent military and other overseas voters from casting a ballot, postpone the election.

  3.   I appreciate the effort from the justice department, but really, how many military and overseas voters will vote in this election?  I tried to vote from Russia in a municipal election and I was nearly laughed out of the embassy.  People who currently reside in the 20th district don’t even know this election is going on!  I predict this election will gather somewhere in the range of 0 to 0 votes from overseas.

  4. Considering that military personnel overseas probably more important things to do, like fighting in a war for example, I doubt that any of them knows that a special election is going on.

    I’m not saying that military people should be denied the right to vote. I’m just saying that if given a choice, vote in a special election or defend the country, most of them would choose the latter.

  6. 1.  A NY State primary election scheduled for September 11,2001 was postponed and held later.  Electons in NY can be postponed.

    2.  Otoh, the Bush margin was increased by 351 votes from 186 IIRC when a large number of invalid military ballots were cast due to the big mouth of Joe Lieberman.  No such concessions were made by the Republicans.  That probably caused no harm but it certainly causes me to view the military vote with a jaundiced eye.  I see this as a Republican ploy based on Florida 2000.

    3.  The US military has conducted elections for centuries.  Why have they become suddenly inept? (Lincoln was helped considerably by “the soldier vote” in 1864).

    4.  There is a Bible verse where Jesus says that the Sabbath is made for man; man is not made for the Sabbath.  The DoD ought to be more accomodating by far.  It is amazing what they can do when they really want to do it.

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