Elmont Online

BOLTON -- State leaders will ask a federal judge to once again let them hold primary elections in September next year, promising to move the election date starting in 2013, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said.

Officials from the Department of Justice filed papers Monday in federal court saying the state's election calendar is out of compliance with a new federal law requiring military voters get their ballots 45 days before a general election.

Primaries in the state for nonpresidential elections are held roughly six weeks before general elections. The state was granted a waiver to hold its normal September primary in 2010.

The DOJ asked District Judge Gary Sharpe to issue an order compelling the state Board of Elections to hold primaries no later than August 2012, because of elected leaders' "failure to change the date on their own--despite ample time and opportunity to do so."

"We'll have an agreement to move it in '13 and '14, and present that to the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense and see if we can continue a waiver for 2012," Silver said Wednesday night at the annual conference of the Business Council of New York State held at The Sagamore.

There are no plans to pass a bill making the change, said Silver, D-Manhattan. But officials will promise in a letter to Sharpe that they will at a later date. Spokesmen for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Long Island, did not dispute his assertion.

The state Board of Elections last month applied for another waiver for 2012, citing the ongoing process of drawing new legislative districts to take effect for the 2012 elections. The current process, dominated by appointees of Silver and Skelos, has been derided by Cuomo and good-government groups, which this week proposed some efforts to improve it enough to, possibly, escape Cuomo's threat to veto biased lines.

The negotiations would be forced if the federal government does not grant a 2012 waiver. Assembly Democrats favor moving the primary to late June, which means district lines must be set by late February, perhaps allowing legislators to claim there is no time to change the process. Senate Republicans would prefer an August primary. Silver said this dispute is still unresolved.

Cuomo's spokesman Josh Vlasto declined to comment.

All agree this makes changing the date for 2012 nearly impossible logistically.

But Sharpe might not buy their pledge -- he has scheduled a hearing in case for Oct. 20. And if Sharpe forces lawmakers to put a law behind their promise, it might force legislators back into a special session. Senate Republicans are reluctant to return to the Capitol before their next scheduled meeting in January, but Silver expressed a willingness to call his members.

In addition to moving the primary and possibly tweaking redistricting, Silver said he would like to see action to set up a health insurance exchange, which will allow the state to get federal money, and action on livery vehicles used as taxis in New York City.