April 29 (UPI) -- Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has filed a lawsuit against the New York State Board of Elections for canceling the state's Democratic presidential primary.

The lawsuit, filed by Yang and seven others who were to serve as his delegates to the Democratic National Convention, argues that the election board's decision to cancel the vote denies them their fundamental rights as they had qualified for the contest and had not requested their names to be removed from the ballot.

"This unprecedented and unwarranted move infringes the rights of plaintiffs and all New York State Democratic Party voters, of which there are estimated to be more than 6 million, as it fundamentally denies them the right to choose our next candidate for the office of President of the United States," the lawsuit reads.

On Monday, New York state became the first in the nation to effectively cancel its June 23 presidential primary by removing all Democratic candidates from the ballot aside from the presumptive nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.