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How do you hold primaries when much of the countrys being asked not to go out in public? Its another thing to sort out on the fly with everyone open to practical compromise.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has postponed all village elections, scheduled for Wednesday, until April 28 the date still set for New Yorks presidential primary.

We are dealing with an unprecedented challenge, but I think it is a signature of a stable democracy that elections happen, Mayor de Blasio said before postponing the March 24 special election for Queens borough president. Indeed, its worth taking the time to figure out how to vote safely.

Cuomo has moved to make absentee voting available to everyone and to extend the application deadline to the day before the primary. Were no fans of vote-by-mail but its all fair, in these extraordinary circumstances. As the saying goes: Needs must when the devil drives.

Indeed, the state Board of Elections needs to craft vote-by-mail and drop-off ballot procedures before April 28, in case the shutdown lasts that long.

The Legislature can pass the necessary laws, making it plain that this isnt absentee voting, which the state Constitution severely limits, but special emergency voting. (Reformers who want vote-by-mail for all elections need to resist the urge to exploit this crisis: Compromise.)

Other states are doing their own experimenting, as the epidemic hits nationwide.

The Democratic National Committee, which is mulling penalties for states that change their rules suddenly, needs to back off, too: Its a crisis, and people are doing their best. Both parties should be figuring out how to hold conventions via video, if it comes to that.

Tech-savvy campaigns are hosting virtual town halls in place of in-person events. Social media and virtual phone banks are replacing in-person canvassing.

Some of these innovations will persist even once normalcy returns. We hope to see familiar in-person Election Day balloting again the norm, but the emphasis for now is on making democracy work while under duress.

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Making democracy work during this crisis requires everyone to compromise - New York Post