Case 1:20-cv-03325-AT Document 43 Filed 05/05/20 Page 24 of 30 All told, Brehm estimates that not going forward with the presidential primary would reduce the number of voters faced with an election by 1,488,715, and would result in “615 fewer poll sites opened for 15 hours of in-person voting,” “22 fewer early voting sites opened for sixty hours of early voting spanning nine days,” and “4,617 fewer poll workers needed.” Id. ¶ 41. Brehm also explains that much of the work to prepare for the election “is not consistent with social distancing.” Id. ¶ 44. And he estimates that holding the primary will cost the state approximately $5.6 million. Id. ¶ 51. Protecting the public from the spread of COVID-19 is an important state interest. But the Court is not convinced that canceling the presidential primary would meaningfully advance that interest—at least not to the degree as would justify the burdensome impingement on Plaintiffs’ and Plaintiff-Intervenors’ rights. As Plaintiffs and Plaintiff-Intervenors point out, Governor Cuomo has already issued executive orders allowing every voter statewide to request an absentee ballot and providing absentee ballot request forms. Compl. ¶¶ 62–64. Even if not every voter can vote by mail—because they fail to request or do not receive an absentee ballot, because they need assistance voting, or because they are ineligible to cast an ordinary ballot but may cast a ballot with an affidavit, Brehm Decl. ¶ 54—there is no doubt that many voters will avail themselves of the opportunity to do so.4 This, in turn, will make it substantially easier for voters and poll workers to practice social distancing at voting sites. In 2016, a year in which two Democratic presidential primary 4 As another measure to protect public safety, other local governments will allow ballots to be submitted via secure drop-off boxes. See Voting Outside the Polling Place: Absentee, All-Mail and other Voting at Home Options, National Conference of State Legislatures (Apr. 24, 2020), https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-andcampaigns/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx (noting the possibility of votes being submitted “at a secure drop box”); see, e.g., Beau Evans, Ballot Drop-Off Boxes Get Green Light for June 9 Primary in Georgia, Online Athens (Apr. 15, 2020), https://www.onlineathens.com/news/20200415/ballot-drop-off-boxes-get-green-light-for-june-9-primaryin-georgia (reporting that “[c]ounty election officials in Georgia will have the option of installing drop-off boxes for absentee ballots in the June 9[, 2020] primary election under emergency rules the State Election Board adopted” in light of concerns over the safety of voters and poll workers). 24