Good evening,
Tuesday evening, Governor Cuomo posted his forty-seventh Executive Order related to the COVID-19 state of emergency. Executive Order 202.46, issued on June 30, 2020, modifies or suspends certain New York statutes, laws, codes, rules and regulations, as well as sets forth certain directives, all of which are designed to combat the COVID-19 crisis. Executive Order 202.46 is effective from June 30, 2020 through July 30, 2020 and can be found here.
NEW DIRECTIVE
- In late March, independent nominating petitions for any office that would have been circulated or filed pursuant to the Election Law or Education Law was postponed pursuant to a directive contained in Executive Order 202.13, which was subsequently extended by Executive Order 202.26 and 202.44. Executive Order 202.46 rescinds this directive insofar as independent nominating petitions may be circulated, and signatures collected beginning July 1, 2020, consistent with Executive Order 202.46, and filed consistent therewith.
SUPENDED OR MODIFIED LAWS, REGULATIONS AND CODES
As with all prior executive orders, Executive Order 202.46 also suspends or modifies certain laws, codes, rules and regulations to aid in New York’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 crisis this time through July 30, 2020. In this instance, Executive Order 202.46 modifies certain New York State Election Law provisions with respect to independent nominating petitions as follows:
- Independent nominating petitions for an office to be filled at the time of the general election or any village election shall be filed between July 27 and July 30, 2020;
- A certificate of acceptance or declination for an independent nomination for an office to be filled at the time of general election or at a village election shall be filed not later than August 3, 2020;
- A certificate to fill a vacancy caused by a declination of an independent body for an office to be filled at the time of the general election or at a village election shall be filed not later than August 6, 2020;
- A signature made earlier than July 1, 2020, or later than July 30, 2020, shall not be counted upon a petition for an independent nomination for an office appearing on the general election ballot or at a village election; and
- For any election in 2020, the signature requirements on an independent nominating petition for an independent nomination for the general election for any office that is not determined by a statewide election shall be whichever is less: (i) three and three tenths percentum of the total number of votes cast for governor at the last gubernatorial election in such unit, excluding blank and void votes, or (ii) a number equal to seventy percentum of the statutory minimum number provided for by subdivision 2 of section 6-142 of the election law, or for a village election, seventy percentum of the statutory minimum provided for in subdivision 6 of section 15-108 or subdivision 4 of section 6-206 of the election law. For an office determined by a statewide election, the signature requirements on an independent nominating petition shall be at least 30,000 valid signatures with at least 330 valid signatures being from each of one-half of the congressional districts for the State.