Ever since last year, the federal government has been suing New York state over its non-compliance with the 2009 law that requires states to mail overseas absentee ballots at least 45 days before any federal election or any primary for federal office. The case is U.S.A. v State of New York, 10-cv-1214, northern district. On October 31, the state again asked the judge to postpone deciding the case until the state legislature acts to move the September 2012 primary to an earlier month. See this story.

States with mid-September primaries can’t comply with the federal law, so almost all states have now eliminated such late primaries. As the story says, the legislature hasn’t acted yet because the Assembly wants the primary in June and the State Senate wants it in August. This issue has nothing to do with New York’s presidential primary, which has a separate election date, April 24, 2012.