The Justice Department Tuesday asked a federal judge to order the state of New York to hold its 2012 primary election in August, rather than September.

The DOJ filed the  request U.S. District Court, arguing that if the state holds the primary in September, as it traditionally has done, it once again will be in violation of laws it violated in 2010 – the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2009, which require states to send absentee ballots for federal elections 45 days before the election.

In 2010, New York did not validate its primary results in time to send absentee ballots 45 days before the election. It applied for and was granted an exemption due to scheduling considerations. As part of the deal, however, the state agreed to allow the DOJ to file for “permanent relief” in the event that New York state legislatures failed to agree upon an earlier election date for 2012, which appears likely, according to the department.

The DOJ also said that is taking additional action against New York, as per the agreement, because it discovered additional violations of UOCAVA. The department is asking a judge to order New York “to count as validly-cast ballots all timely-requested UOCAVA absentee ballots that were transmitted to voters after October 10, 2010 and rejected solely because they were received too late to be counted.”