March 31, 2020 By Allie Griffin
The Queens Borough President special election finally has a set date — June 23, 2020.
The election, which was originally slated for March 24, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but wasn’t given a new date until yesterday when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order.
June 23 is also the date of the state’s congressional and legislative primaries, as well as the Democratic presidential primary, which Cuomo rescheduled from its initial April 28 date.
The special election will fill the borough president seat vacated by Melinda Katz when she took over as Queens District Attorney at the beginning of the year. Sharon Lee is filling the role for the time being.
The candidates who will appear on the ballot are Council Members Costa Constantinides and Donovan Richards, former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, former Queens prosecutor Jim Quinn, retired NYPD sergeant Anthony Miranda and Flushing businessman Dao Yin.
Borough presidents serve as advocates for the borough, but cannot create or pass laws. However, they do decide how a multi-million dollar budget is spent, weigh in on major land use decisions, appoint members of local community boards and hold public hearings.