Douglas

A. Kellner
CoChair and Commissioner

40 NORTH PEARL STREET
SUITE 5
ALBANY, N.Y. 122072109
Phone: 518/4746367
Fax: 518/4864546

Andrew J. Spano
Commissioner

June 2, 2015

Commissioners Spano and Kellner of the State Board of Elections

along with the New York State Association of Counties Call for the Consolidation
of Presidential and Federal Primaries in 2016

Commissioners Andrew Spano and Douglas Kellner of the New York State Board of
Elections (NYSBOE), along with the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC), call
on Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature to consider combining the 2016 presidential
primary with the 2016 congressional primary. The federal primary is scheduled, pursuant to an
existing court order, on the last Tuesday in June 2016 and the presidential primary is expected
to be held on the fourth Tuesday in April. Combining these elections would avoid the need for
four separate elections next year, encourage voter participation and eliminate an unfunded
mandate which would save taxpayers an estimated $50,000,000 in the process.

Combining the presidential and federal primaries next year is a commonsense solution to
saving New York taxpayers millions of dollars, avoiding voter fatigue which has
contributed to decreasing turnout in recent years and relieves already burdened counties
of an avoidable unfunded mandate. Says NYSBOE Commissioner Andrew Spano. I am
hopeful that the Legislature will act on this in the remaining days of their session.

The current primary election system in New York State is duplicative and unnecessarily
costly for counties, who are forced to use local tax dollars to fund and manage federal
primaries. Merging the presidential and congressional primaries will save New York State
taxpayers $50,000,000 in elections costs each 4year election cycle, said NYSAC Executive
Director Stephen J. Acquario. We commend the Commissioners Spano and Kellner of the
State Board of Elections for this proposal and we urge the state legislature to pass this
common sense policy by the end of the current legislative session.

The New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) is an organization whose mission is to
represent, educate and advocate for New York's counties and the thousands of elected and
appointed county officials who serve the public. NYSAC represents New York counties and

their taxpayers before Federal, State and Local officials on matters germane to county
governments; informs its membership and the public at large on issues of importance to
county governments and advocates for New Yorks 62 counties, including the City of New
York, to the legislative and executive branches of government at the State and Federal
levels.