ALBANY - It will be up to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to call a special election to fill the remainder of late U.S. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter's term, which expires at the end of the year.
The U.S. Constitution leaves it up to governors to set an election to replace members of the House of Representatives when there is a vacancy.
New York law, meanwhile, requires the governor to call a special election to fill a House seat if the vacancy occurs before July 1 of the last year of the term.
That means Cuomo will have to set a date for an election to fill the rest of Slaughter's term.
Recent history, however, suggests Cuomo could set the special election for the same day as the general election, Nov. 6.
That way, the winner of the elections would be able to be seated in Congress immediately after the election and begin a full, two-year term in January.
That's what happened eight years ago when Rep. Eric Massa, D-Corning, Steuben County, abruptly stepped down in March 2010 amid sexual harassment allegations and a cancer diagnosis.
After two months of uncertainty, then-Gov. David Paterson chose to set the special election for the same day as the general election.
Tom Reed, a Republican, won the election and was seated in Congress immediately. He remains in the seat today.
Both votes will, of course, be restricted to registered voters in the 25th Congressional District, which includes all of Monroe County except for the town of Hamlin, a small portion of Clarkson, and the southern portions of Wheatland, Rush and Mendon.
There was no immediate comment from Cuomo's office.
Slaughter, 88, served the Rochester area in Congress since 1987, rising to become the first woman chair of the powerful House Rules Committee.
