Erie County Legislator Terrence D. McCracken (D-Lancaster, Depew, South Cheektowaga) is sponsoring a resolution urging the New York State Legislature to combine the federal and state/local primaries onto June 26, 2012.

             Legislator McCracken said that combining the federal and state/local primaries would save Erie County taxpayers and voters money as well as time.

             “Instead of holding several primaries in 2012, which is unfortunately a possibility, it is in the best interest of Erie County and New York State taxpayers to combine the state/local and federal primary elections, as ordered by a federal judge,” Legislator McCracken said. “For counties such as Erie County, the cost would probably be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is certainly no public benefit from holding three primary days in New York State this year, and most counties have not budgeted for three primary days, potentially causing holes in budgets.”

             “If the primary days are not combined, this would be an unnecessary and wasteful use of public dollars and time. The third primary day under consideration would be undertaken for political gain of incumbents,” Legislator McCracken added. “The taxpayers of Erie County deserve better than this, especially at a time when state and local governments are facing inordinate financial pressures.”

            The resolution also calls for asking the two Erie County Elections Commissioners to attend the Legislature’s Government Affairs Committee to discuss the primary day situation.