8 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 28, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photos courtesy of Jim Quinn’s campaign, Offi ce of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Dao Yin’s campaign
Quinn, Yin appeal court’s decision to uphold Gov. Cuomo’s
cancellation of Queens borough president special election
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
One former candidate and one current
candidate for Queens borough president
will continue their fi ght in court to
reverse Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive
order that canceled the special election
for Queens borough president.
Th e special election was originally
scheduled for March 24 and rescheduled
to June 23 before being canceled
outright. Jim Quinn and Dao Yin, who
both ran in the special election prior to
its cancellation, separately fi led an appeal
earlier this week against the court’s decision
to uphold the governor’s order.
Th e pair have argued in court that the
governor’s decision was unlawful. While
many of the candidates, including Yin,
remain on the ballot for the June 23 primary,
the decision to cancel the special
election eliminated Quinn, who had only
petitioned for the special election, from
the ballot.
“We brought this case forward in the
name of democracy and the rights of
Queens voters,” Quinn said. “Th e judge
in the lower court was in agreement
with the merits of our argument that
Governor Cuomo took extreme and
unnecessary action in canceling the
election, which makes his decision not
granting us relief even more disappointing
and confounding.”
Quinn said the decision to cancel the
special election aft er early voting had
already begun was an act of disenfranchisement
against Republicans and conservatives,
a group whose support the
former Queens assistant district attorney
had garnered.
“Th e voters — thousands of whom
had already cast their ballot in the special
election — have a right to an elected
borough president before January
2021,” Quinn said. “We live in a democratic
republic, not a dictatorship, and I
will not sit by silently while the voters of
Queens are disenfranchised.”
Yin, who has jumped to Quinn’s side,
has made similar arguments in court.
“Th e Executive Order canceling the special
election is not only unnecessary
and unconstitutional, but it is also dangerous
in that it establishes a precedent
for other politicians to overstep their
authority and interfere with a future
election under the guise of an ’emergency,’
real or perceived,” Yin’s lawyers said
in their appeal.
Th e appeal comes aft er a string of
unusual events that led to the cancellation
of the election. It began with former
Queens borough president Melinda
Katz’s election to Queens district attorney
in 2019.
Th e vacant seat was fi lled by her deputy,
Sharon Lee, who is currently serving
as the acting borough president. A special
election was scheduled for March 23,
the winner of which would serve until
January 2021.
Citing threats to public health, Cuomo
eventually canceled the election outright,
an act that allowed all candidates
in the special election — except Quinn
— to remain on the ballot for the June
23 Democratic primary. Th e winner of
the primary will face Republican Joann
Ariola in the November general election.
Councilmen Donovan Richards
and Costa Constantinides, former
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley,
retired NYPD Sergeant Anthony
Miranda and Yin will appear on the ballot
in the June Democratic primary.
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8 8
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