State Democratic legislators are considering delaying the impending special election for North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik’s NY-21 House seat until this summer, which would potentially leave her seat vacant for longer than anticipated.

While state Democrats discussing the potential change pitch this as a way to increase voter turnout and save money on running elections, Republicans oppose it, saying it is a ploy to extend the reduction of GOP influence in the House, which currently has a slight Republican majority.

Stefanik has been nominated to be recently re-elected President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

If she is confirmed by the Senate, she would need to resign from her NY-21 House seat. This would kick off a special election to replace her.

After Stefanik submits her resignation, current election law dictates that Gov. Kathy Hochul will have 10 days to issue a proclamation calling for a special election. Then, the election must be held within 70 to 80 days of the proclamation. Major party nominations must be made within 10 days of Hochul announcing the election. Independent candidates would have 12 days to collect signatures to be nominated.

Democratic legislators in the Senate and Assembly met privately on Friday to discuss potentially changing special election laws to move the election, but these discussions haven’t produced any official legislation so far.

“I haven’t seen any bill,” local Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, said in a message to the Enterprise.

He did not say whether he’s participated in or heard of these discussions, and declined to weigh in on his thoughts on changing the election date.

The Capitol Pressroom, which first reported on the legislators’ talks, speculates the state could consolidate the NY-21 special election with the statewide primary elections on June 24, since the law already requires special elections held for vacancies withing three months of a general election to be held on the “pre-scheduled election day.”

The district already faces up to three months without representation in the House. If Stefanik resigned today, the special election would have to be held between April 15 and May 5. If the special election is moved to the primary election date, there would be around an extra month-and-a-half or more of a vacancy.

The Republicans hold a slim majority in the House — 218 to 215. Eagle-eyed readers may realize that these two numbers add up to 433 and the House has 435 members. This is because two other Republican congresspeople have vacated their seats during the presidential turnover.

The special election primary races for these two Florida seats formerly held by Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz were held last week, and the special elections will be held on April 1.

If Republicans keep NY-21 and these two Florida seats in their power, they’ll gain a stronger majority voting block. If Democrats flip the three districts, the House would become split 50/50 between the two major parties.

State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, who is being considered for the Republican nomination in the special election, protested this potential change, calling it a “cheap political stunt” to hinder Trump’s policy-passing ability.

Stec pointed out that in the five years Democrats have had majorities in both houses of state government, there have been eight special elections and none of them were delayed.

“So what’s changed now?” he asks.

His belief is a plot by the Democrats to “subvert the will of the voters” by leaving Stefanik’s seat empty, losing Trump a potential GOP vote in the House.

“By holding up a special election, they’re keeping the North Country from having Congressional representation at a critical moment,” Stec said in a statement. “Our towns and villages won’t have an ally in their efforts to access essential federal grants and funding. Our border counties won’t have a voice to fight for common sense policies to stop the public safety crisis on the northern border.”

He accused Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of being “so blinded with Trump Derangement Syndrome they’ll hold our region hostage in an effort to thwart his popularly elected agenda.”

Asked by news outlets about her thoughts on the discussion, Hochul gave a statement about supporting legislation to increase voter turnout and reduce the cost of election administration.

Last week, Stefanik gathered bipartisan votes from the 22-member Senate Foreign Relations Committee to advance her nomination out of committee and into a vote by the full Senate. The date and time of this vote were not set by publication of this article, but her appointment has been added to the Senate executive calendar.

To read more about how committee members voted, go to tinyurl.com/y3j7h8ju.

A special election is not run like a normal election. Instead of primaries — where members of each party vote on who will represent their party on the ballot — the candidates are selected by the 15 county party chairs in the district.

Essentially, its a primary with only 15 voters.

The party chairs’ votes are weighted by the number of party members in their county.

Already, dozens of Democrats and Republicans have lined up for a shot at a campaign for the seat.

With the House having a narrow Republican majority after the last election, this race could also attract national attention for its importance for both parties.