Nina Turner, the former national co-chair for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, said Thursday that he should remain on primary ballots despite ending his campaign earlier this month.
Turner called the decision by the New York State Board of Elections to cancel the presidential primary a “pure unadulterated power grab” and a form of “voter suppression.”
The primary had initially been postponed to June from April after the coronavirus pandemic hit the state full-force.
“They upended democracy,” Turner said in an interview Thursday with The Hill.TV’s “Rising.”
“And the Democrats that control that state have really no standing to talk about anybody suppressing the vote. They did that in one fell swoop,” she added.
Officials from the New York State Democratic Party argue the move was done for safety and resourced purposes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Turner dismissed claims that the primary was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, noting that there are down ballot races still taking place the same day.
“The fact that they’re saying this may be linked to corona, or it’s a beauty contest is really not the truth. There are elections of other offices that have to go on whether or not there’s a presidential election or not. This is [a] pure unadulterated power grab, it is voter suppression,” she said.
Turner said cancelling the primary hurts progressive candidates because it inhibits them garnering enough delegates to put pressure on moderates to adopt a more liberal platform at the Democratic National Convention. She also said that the decision hurts down ballot progressive candidates.
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