New York election officials are trying to remove Bernie Sanders from the presidential primary ballot — again

• Democratic members of the New York Board of Elections have appealed a federal judge's ruling that the state's presidential primary must go on.
• Last month, members of the board canceled the presidential primary, removing Sen. Bernie Sanders from the ballot, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
• The cancellation was reversed Tuesday by US District Judge Analisa Torres of Manhattan, who said doing so was unconstitutional.
• The presidential primary is "unnecessary" and "frivolous," said David Kellner, co-chair of the board.
• While Sanders is no longer running for president, he seeks to gain delegates for the Democratic National Convention through the remaining elections.
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Democratic members of the New York Board of Elections have appealed Tuesday's court decision to reinstate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic presidential primary ballot, once again fighting to prevent the election from taking place.

The appeal was filed Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

The Democratic presidential primary, slated for June 23, was originally canceled in April. The state's election board said the coronavirus pandemic made in-person voting too dangerous.

On Tuesday, the cancelation was reversed after former presidential candidate Andrew Yang filed a lawsuit against the board.

The Sanders campaign decried the initial decision to end the election as "a blow to democracy." Though Sanders suspended his presidential campaign in April as former Vice President Joe Biden became the presumptive nominee, he remains on the ballot to continue to rack up delegates for the party's convention.

In her court ruling Tuesday, allowing the election to move forward, US District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan called the initial cancellation unconstitutional.

"If all but one of the presidential candidates are removed from the ballot and the primary is not held, Delegate Plaintiffs will be deprived of the opportunity to compete for delegate slots and shape the course of events at the Convention, and voters will lose the chance to express their support for delegates who share their views," Torres wrote. "The loss of these First Amendment rights is a heavy hardship."

Douglas Kellner, co-chairman of the board and one of the defendants in the lawsuit, said last month that there was no reason to hold the presidential primary, since Sen. Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign on April 8.

"What the Sanders supporters want is essentially a beauty contest that, given the situation with the public health emergency that exists now, seems to be unnecessary and, indeed, frivolous," Kellner said.

No other state has canceled its presidential primary, though dozens have postponed them.

The Sanders camp disagreed with Kellner, noting that other New York elections would still take place, including dozens of congressional and state-level elections. The state has also expanded absentee voting in the middle of the pandemic.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent Sanders surrogate, decried the decision on Twitter.

"This decision is not informed by public health: the state is still holding elections for every other seat that day," she wrote. "So far the only way your ballot will 100% be counted in NY is to vote in person!"

The New York Board of Elections did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.