A federal judge will hear arguments on Thursday in the emergency appeal by New York State Senator Jack Martins to move the election to replace Long Island Congressman Steve Israel to December.
Martins lost a federal appeal last week to push the election from November 8 to December 6. He argued that having the election just 32 days after the Republican primary would violate federal law that armed services members receive their ballots 45 days before an election.
A state judge ordered the primary for October 6 after ruling that Martins’ challenger in the Republican primary, Philip Pidot, shouldn’t have been removed from the June ballot after Martins challenged his petition signatures.
He also wants the judge to stop mail-in ballots for the primary from being sent, saying it would confuse voters, and give his Democratic opponent Tom Suozzi an unfair advantage.
Suozzi says Martins is just trying to avoid being on the same ticket as Donald Trump.
