Who Knows Where We'll Be in June?

The Democratic presidential primary in New York, which was supposed to happen next Tuesday, was postponed until June 23, the same date as other federal, state, and local primaries. Effective April 9, absentee voting was made available to all voters for the June 23 primaries. The following information from the Columbia County Board of Election appears on the county website. (The use of underscore, boldface, and italics is as I found it.)     

Due to the COVID-19 situation, any voter may apply for an absentee ballot for the June 23 Primary by submitting an absentee application and selecting "temporary illness" in Box 1 of the application form.

In addition, no hard copy application is required for the June 23 Primary. Your completed absentee application form may be scanned and emailed (or mailed or delivered) to the Board of Elections at "elections@columbiacountymy.com." The Board encourages electronic submission of application forms.

At present, these modified rules apply through June 23 only and do not apply to the November 3 General Election.

Primary Ballots will not be sent to voters before early May.

The application, which cannot be completed online but must be printed, completed, and then scanned, can be accessed here.

Update: Just as I was completing this post, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his daily COVID-19 briefing a new executive order requiring county boards of elections to mail an absentee ballot application to every registered voter. Apparently, downloading and printing the form will not be required. A form, with return postage, will be mailed to you. In the briefing, it was also clarified that polling places will still be open on June 23.
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