Hello All – There is a possibility that the New York Democratic presidential primary will be canceled. The letter below, from Concerned Families of Westchester, states why we think the primary should be held. In a nutshell, to defeat Trump in November, a united and mobilized Democratic Party is necessary. To cancel the primary election will work against (re)building this unity. Please use this letter – or the ideas in it if helpful – in any way that works for you to encourage Democratic elected officials and community leaders to speak up for holding the primary. – And if you/others have time to do only one thing, please call Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins ((518) 455-2585) and ask her to work to keep the primary. Please do this now, as the decision may be made very soon.
Thanks,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
The CFOW Letter/Statement
Dear XXX,
We are an organization of citizen activists located in the Rivertowns of Westchester County. We are focused on defeating President Trump in November. It is from this perspective that we are writing to express our concern about the possible cancellation of the New York Democratic presidential primary, now scheduled for June 23rd.
To defeat Donald Trump, we believe it is essential to mobilize all possible voters; and to do this we believe we must unify the Party and the campaign around a program that makes such a mobilization possible.
It is evident that Senator Sanders has attracted not only progressive voters but millions of young people and people of color to his campaign. We need these voters to support Joe Biden in November. For the Sanders campaign to mobilize these voters, the Democratic Party must reach out to them – and to the Sanders campaign – with meaningful assurances that their voices are heard.
To this end, we believe it would work against the process of uniting the Party if the June presidential primary were canceled. In his speech suspending his campaign, Senator Sanders stated that he expected to continue to gain Convention delegates in the two dozen primary elections still to come. He stated his hope that additional delegates would help his campaign to influence the Party's election platform and the Party's rules going forward. Hundreds of thousands of Senator Sanders' supporters – perhaps millions – share his hope that the ideas animating his campaign will continue to have an impact. To cancel New York's Democratic presidential primary would be to shatter these hopes, and would send the wrong message to those who have until now have not supported Vice President Biden, but must be persuaded to do so.
Additionally, we believe that it is important to preserve and execute the most fundamental democratic right in our society, regardless of political belief, the right to vote. At a time when the Republicans are engaged in voter suppression, the Democrats should at all cost avoid even the appearance of doing this as well.
Clearly there is a financial cost to the State in holding a presidential primary, especially if much of the voting is done by mail. We have seen no estimates of this cost, nor of the expected savings in reducing the number of polling places. But we believe that the political cost to our Democracy will be substantial if the June Democratic Party presidential primary is not held.
Concerned Families of Westchester was formed in the days after 9/11/2001. We are a grassroots group with scores of members, a newsletter that goes to hundreds of Westchester residents, and an established record of working for peace and justice. As an organization we do not support political candidates for office, but at this time are focused on defeating President Trump in November.
Yours sincerely,
Frank Brodhead
For Concerned Families of Westchester
