New York moves primary originally scheduled for 9/11, Rosh Hashanah
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York's primary date happens to fall on Sept. 11 and Rosh Hashanah, which lawmakers are trying to change. (AP)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Friday that moved the 2018 primary election date to Sept. 13 from Sept. 11 to avoid conflicts with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and the seventeenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Earlier this year, the New York State Board of Elections had announced that Sept. 11 would be New York’s primary date for the 2018 midterm elections.
But the timing would have prevented some of the more than 1.6 million Jewish New Yorkers from participating at the polls due to the start of the Jewish New Year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who introduced legislation to change the date, applauded Cuomo.
“It is unfair to force New Yorkers to choose between fulfilling civic duties and observing two sacred days, Rosh Hashanah and Sept. 11,” Kaminsky said.
New York State Assemblyman Robert Carroll also introduced legislation earlier this year pushing for a change. The bill required the primary instead be held on Sept. 13, and that mailers be sent to voters with a notice in “all capital letters and bold font” to alert them to the change.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is not the first year the election date has been moved, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
“There is a statute that says it is always the first Tuesday after the second Monday in September,” John Conklin, spokesman for the board, told Fox News.
The move of the primary date was not something that could be moved administratively, Conklin explained, noting it was up to the legislature to pass a bill for Cuomo to sign.