PHOTOS BY DEAN MOSES
Blue Angels, F-16s
bring hope during
Manhattan flyover
On April 28, the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds flew over New York City
and Long Island to honor healthcare heroes and essential workers on the
front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Photos show New Yorkers at East
River Park near the FDR Drive in Manhattan watching them fly by.
Editorial
June primary turns into a total snafu
Through a series of bad decisions and
unforced errors, the state Board of
Elections and Governor Andrew
Cuomo have turned the June 23 primary
into a confusing farce.
The primary, of course, is still on, coronavirus
be damned. There will be party
primary races for statewide and Congressional
seats. You don’t even have to leave
your house to vote; you will be able to
request an absentee ballot.
That’s the good news about the contest.
Everything else about it is an absolute mess.
Let’s start with the cancellation of the
Democratic presidential primary. Yes, the
race effectively ended back on April 8 when
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders dropped
out of the running, leaving former Vice
President Joe Biden the last candidate standing
— and the party’s presumptive nominee.
The coronavirus pandemic forced the
state to fi rst delay the primary from April
28 to June 23. After Sanders suspended his
campaign, the primary was seen by some
— including, apparently, the state Board of
Elections — as a moot point. That led to the
board’s decision on April 27 to cancel the
Democratic presidential primary altogether.
Sanders supporters became riled up at
a time when Biden’s trying hard to win
them over and get their votes. This decision
throws a bit of a monkey wrench into
that cause, as it fuels the belief among
many Sanders supporters that “the party
machine” is out to squash them.
Talk about bad optics for a party desperate
to defeat Donald Trump in November.
But that wasn’t the only June 23 contest
thrown into chaos.
Cuomo cancelled special elections for
Queens borough president and several
other city and state legislative vacancies
which were initially scheduled for March 24
but ultimately delayed due to COVID-19.
The parties will hold primaries for these
seats instead on June 23, with the winners
advancing to the November election.
But by then, some of these vacant legislative
seats will have been empty for nearly
a year before voters choose the people to
represent them in government.
The pandemic in New York state is the
very defi nition of the term snafu, an infamous
military acronym meaning “Situation
Normal: All Fouled Up.”
The June 23 primary is a snafu within
the snafu — but one that could’ve been
completely avoided had the Board of
Elections and Cuomo thought more of the
voters and less about politics.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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