New York originally joined several northeastern states in holding primaries on the same date, often dubbed the "Acela primary" in reference to the namesake Amtrak service. State statute originally had mandated that the primary would be held on February 4 for procedural reasons. In September 2019, New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that designated April 28, 2020, as the state's presidential primary date, aligning it with other states' contests on the same day. Primaries for other offices were scheduled to take place on June 23, 2020. Cuomo announced on March 28, 2020 that the presidential primary would be postponed to June 23 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Voting is expected to take place throughout the state from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. In the closed primary, candidates must meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 224 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 224 pledged delegates, between 5 and 10 are allocated to each of the state's 27 congressional districts and another 37 are allocated to party leaders and elected officials, in addition to 49 at-large pledged delegates. These delegate totals do not account for pledged delegate bonuses or penalties from timing or clustering. District-level delegates are selected by voters on the presidential primary ballot. Should candidates be entitled to more delegates based on the results of the primary than eligible delegates presented, then additional delegates will be designated by the state committee at a special post-primary caucus before the state convention. The state Democratic committee meeting, slated for May 2020, will vote on the 49 pledged at-large and 37 PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The 224 pledged delegates New York sends to the national convention will be joined by 46 unpledged PLEO delegates.
Cancelation and rescheduling
On April 27, 2020, the Democratic Commissioners at the New York State Board of Elections removed all candidates that had ended or suspended their campaigns for president from the ballot pursuant to NYS Election Law 2-122, arguing that only one candidate remained in the race so no primary needed to be held. The commissioners cited the COVID-19 pandemic and millions of dollars in expenses. On April 28, Andrew Yang sued the New York State Board of Elections over this decision, saying that it "creates a dangerous precedent". On May 5, a federal judge ruled that the primary election must proceed with the candidates and delegates who were on the ballot as of April 26 while the primary will be held on June 23, 2020. The State appealed the decision to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, but lost the appeal on May 19 and will not appeal further.
