New York officials are considering plans to postpone the state’s presidential primary election from April 28 to June 23, the date of another scheduled statewide primary, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The discussions are underway as two states — Louisiana and Georgia — have already postponed their primaries and other states are weighing various delays or mail-in balloting measures to protect the public from exposure to the illness.
Four other states that are scheduled to vote in the presidential primary on Tuesday — Ohio, Arizona, Florida and Illinois — have reconfirmed plans to hold their elections as planned, issuing a joint statement on Friday expressing confidence that ballots can be safely cast.
Douglas A. Kellner, co-chair of the New York State Board of Elections, confirmed on Sunday that discussions were underway about the possibility of delaying the primary in the interest of containing the virus’s spread, but he added that no final decision had been reached.
The decision ultimately would rest with the governor and the State Legislature, he said in an interview.
Mr. Kellner, a Manhattan lawyer, said he was in favor of moving the election to June 23 — the day of another already scheduled statewide vote.
“Why? There’s no compelling reason to have the presidential primary election in April apart from the other election,” Mr. Kellner said. He added that it was likely that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would be decided by late April and, if not, the June 23 election date still fell before the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee in July.
Many officials do not regard a postponement as immediately necessary, Mr. Kellner said, adding that a decision could be delayed for two weeks, when more information will be available.
There is no Republican presidential primary being held in New York this year. Other than the Democratic presidential nominating vote, other state and federal primary balloting in New York is scheduled for June 23.
In the past few days, elections officials around the country have been considering various changes in their elections schedules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, with several others believed to be considering a delay or moving to mail-in balloting.
Mr. Kellner, a Democrat, said state officials had also been reviewing the possibility of the broader use of absentee ballots in New York for the primary.
“The state board of elections already has on its website an application for military and overseas voters to download their ballots,” Mr. Kellner said. “We are actively considering what has to be done to scale that up so that people would be able to download absentee ballots over the internet. They would still have to mail them back if one were to go into that direction.”
He said that officials were currently evaluating how long it would take to carry out that change — an answer they expect to have this week.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo could not immediately be reached for comment. Several days ago, in what he described as an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus, Mr. Cuomo signed an executive order lifting restrictions on absentee ballots in the special election in Queens County scheduled for March 24.
He also reduced the number of signatures required on petitions to be placed on the ballot — a move he said was an effort to limit door-to-door canvassing by those seeking signatures.
In a statement Sunday, the Democratic National Committee said a delay in New York’s election to June 23 would violate its rules requiring that all states hold their primaries by June 9, but added, “We will continue to work with every state party as they adjust their delegate selection plans around coronavirus.”
The party has said that any rules violation could potentially result in a state losing half its delegates, but would have to be reviewed by the party’s rules and bylaws committee.