Signs are strong that New York state lawmakers will vote to change the date of the New York City runoff for mayor -- if needed -- from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1.
The request from city election officials for the one-week delay was part of a contingency plan to use electronic voting machines. But, as The New York Times reported last week, "a spokeswoman for the city's Board of Elections said that even if the lever machines were brought back, election officials would still like three weeks to ensure they could determine the results of the primary and prepare polling places for the runoff."
Another reason given for moving the runoff from Sept. 24 is that the date conflicts with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The primary is scheduled for Sept. 10.
Still another reason that is not given, but in all likelihood is on the minds of many Democrats, is that should former Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat, place second and make it into the runoff (as several polls show him doing), it will give party leaders and his opponent -- likely to be Democratic City Council Speaker Christine Quinn -- more time to remind voters why Weiner resigned from Congress two years ago after he put lewd pictures of himself on Twitter.
A runoff is required in New York state only if none of the candidates in a primary for citywide office gets 40 percent of the vote. The law states the runoff is held two weeks after the primary election, and only the top two candidates would be on the runoff ballot.
John Gizzi is special political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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