-5- Nos. 56 & 58 in the June primary needed to obtain to be placed on the ballot. Before the state of emergency was declared, a candidate intending to run in the June primary election was required to file a designating petition between March 30 and April 2, 2020 (Election Law § 6-158 [1]). The corresponding certificates of acceptance would have needed to be filed no later than four days after April 2 (Election Law § 6-158 [2]).1 On March 18, 2020, the legislature enacted, and the Governor signed, chapter 24 of the Laws of 2020. It superseded Election Law § 6-158 (1) and mandated that “a designating petition for the June 2020 primary election shall be filed with the appropriate board of elections on March 17, 2020 through March 20, 2020” (L 2020, ch 24). The deadline to file a certificate of acceptance under Election Law § 6-158 (2) became March 24, 2020. Chapter 24 thus advanced the deadline for filing both a designating petition and a certificate of acceptance by about two weeks. The legislature justified advancing the petition deadlines by stating that the “state emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic necessitates a truncated political calendar for petitions related to the June 2020 primary election.” 2 1 The Governor postponed the presidential primary, originally planned to be held on April 28, until June 23 in an attempt to preserve the ability of citizens to vote without jeopardizing their lives or the lives of others. He also ordered “New York State on PAUSE” on March 20, requiring people to stay at home except for essential matters. 2 The Election Law has traditionally provided a four-day period during which designating petitions may be filed (see Election Law § 6-158 [2]). It appears the legislature’s intention in the 2020 pandemic-related legislation was to preserve that four-day period but move it to an earlier set of dates (see L 2020, ch 24). However, because the law was not adopted until late in the evening on March 18, the first two days of the March 17-20 period had already lapsed, leaving just March 19 and 20 for filing such petitions. -5-