New York’s Highest Court to Hear Latest GOP Challenge to State’s Mail-In Voting
Oral argument will take place in the New York Court of Appeals next week in the ongoing Republican legal challenge to the state’s newly enacted Early Mail Voting Act.
The law — which allows all registered voters to vote by mail during the early voting period — already overcame legal hurdles in trial court and appellate court. But the outcome in the state’s highest court will ultimately decide if the law stands, or if New York legislators will have to amend the state’s constitution in order to allow early voting by mail — a lengthy, onerous process.
In September of 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the New York Early Mail Voter Act after the state’s Legislature passed the bill in June — a move praised by voting rights advocates across the state. The law allows all registered voters to vote by mail during the state’s early voting period — before the law, voters could only vote absentee if they knew they would be absent from their county or New York City, or because of an illness or disability.
Immediately after Hochul signed the bill into law, the state’s GOP contingent promptly swooped in to challenge its constitutionality. The Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), New York Republican State Committee, Conservative Party of New York and several state GOP lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Elise Stefani, (R-N.Y.), filed a lawsuit. arguing that the law violates the New York Constitution because the constitution lists two classes of voters who can access absentee ballots, but now the new law applies to all voters who are outside those two groups.
In February, a trial court judge rejected the GOP plaintiff’s argument, finding they “failed to meet their heavy burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the Early Mail Voter Act is unconstitutional under the NY Constitution.” After the plaintiffs appealed, an appellate court similarly rejected the GOP’s argument and wrote that the new law “does not violate article II of the NY Constitution and was properly implemented through legislative enactment.”
Despite surviving two legal challenges, the state’s highest court will have the final say on if the law is constitutional. Should the court rule in favor of the plaintiffs, early mail-in voting in New York isn’t a total lost cause. As former CUNY/College of Staten Island professor Deborah Franzblau recently wrote in Democracy Docket, the process for amending the state’s constitution is long and complicated, requiring the state Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment in two consecutive years and then be approved by voters.
But given how former President Donald Trump and the GOP seem to be changing their tune on mail-in voting, bipartisan support for an effort to permanently allow mail-in voting in New York isn’t as far-fetched as it once was.
You can watch the oral argument live on Tuesday here.