Governor Calls Special Elections for September 13th

Last Friday, Governor Cuomo issued proclamations calling for special elections to fill six vacant Assembly seats and Anthony Weiner’s former seat in Congress to be held on September 13^th – primary day.

The Assembly seats to be filled are the seats most recently held by Audrey Pheffer (23^rd Assembly District in Queens), Nettie Mayersohn (27^th A.D. in Queens), Darryl Towns (54^th A.D. in Brooklyn), Jonathan Bing (73^rd A.D. in Manhattan), RoAnne Destito (116^th A.D. in Oneida County and Sam Hoy (144^th A.D. in Erie County).

Good government groups are not happy, because of the lower turnout on primary day than in November, and because the holding of special elections means that voters do not have the opportunity to select the candidates through the primary process.

The editorial boards of the NY Daily News and the NY Times share their disappointment.

The State Board of Election has posted its September 13th Special Election political calendar.