Village and School Board elections postponed until June 1

By Connor Linskey
Posted 4/1/20

Gov. Cuomo signed an executive order Monday delaying school board and village elections until at least June 1. No date has been set for when the elections will be held.

“Our top priority …

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Village and School Board elections postponed until June 1

Posted

Gov. Cuomo signed an executive order Monday delaying school board and village elections until at least June 1. No date has been set for when the elections will be held.

“Our top priority has been keeping New Yorkers safe and stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus,” Cuomo said. “Public health officials have been clear that reducing density is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread and delaying village elections will ensure poll workers and voters are not potentially exposed to the virus and at the same time maintain integrity in our election.”

Village elections were originally scheduled for March 18. School board elections were to have taken place on May 19.

The decision to postpone these elections was made to limit the spread of COVID-19. The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus has increased rapidly over the last few weeks. As of Monday afternoon, there were 66,497 positive cases with 1,435 in Orange County and 190 in Ulster County. There are 9,517 people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19. The death toll in New York State is 1,218, which is more than any other state.

Cuomo’s order said the June 1 date would be re-evaluated depending on the state of the COVID-19 crisis.

Affected by the decision is the Village of Walden Election in which John Ramos, Cheryl Baker and Willie Carley are running unopposed for three seats on the village board. Also running unopposed in Maybrook are Trustees Daryl Capozzoli and Robert Pritchard.

Village Trustee John Ramos agreed that postponing village elections was in everyone’s best interest.

“As long as the governor maintains the executive order it is just going to be business as usual until the election comes up,” he said. “I’m in a battle zone mentality right now.”

Last week the New York State School Boards Association asked candidates for local school boards not to go door to door while collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot. Petitions must be filed for central, union free and common school districts by April 20. April 29 is the deadline for filing petitions for all small city school districts.

Over the weekend, Cuomo also postponed the state’s presidential primary from April 28 to June 23 to coincide with the primaries for congressional and statewide offices.