No-excuse mail-in voting still open to all New Yorkers, for now

GOP and Stefanik appealed decision in Albany County case

ALBANY — A state Supreme Court justice has rejected a request from U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and the Republican Party to temporarily suspend a new state law that allows any registered voter in New York to cast their ballot early by mail.

Republicans immediately appealed the ruling state Supreme Court Justice Christina L. Ryba. The case, in which the GOP is seeking a temporary injunction while they argue their case that the law violates the constitution, will next head to an appellate court in Albany. Stefanik is seeking a final ruling on the merits of the case ahead of the 2024 election, in which New York’s congressional races could dictate control of Congress.

The case was filed by Stefanik earlier this year after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a Democrat-backed law that effectively allows all New Yorkers to vote by mail.

Under prior law, a voter could file an absentee ballot if they provided an excuse such as being a member of the military, traveling or having a conflict such as a pre-scheduled surgery. A temporary law during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed anyone concerned about contracting the virus to request an absentee ballot.

Stefanik has argued the only way to expand who is eligible to vote by mail is through a constitutional amendment. Democrats brought forward a ballot proposition in 2021 that would have allowed no-excuse voting by absentee ballot — a proposal that was soundly rejected by New York voters. (Democratic operatives, in a brief filed in the court case, have cast that ballot defeat as simply a result of low voter turnout in an off-year election.)

Hochul and the Democrats argue the state did not approve voting by no-excuse absentee ballot. Instead, they claim, it will allow any New Yorker to vote early by mail. Republicans have countered that argument is semantics and that Democrats pushed for the change because their party benefits more from mail-in voting.

Ryba found the GOP’S argument for a preliminary injunction, which would have prevented the law from taking effect in 2024, is insufficient. She said the Republicans did not demonstrate they would face “irreparable harm” if the law stays on the books.

Republicans “cannot establish that they will suffer electoral disadvantages based on the Early Mail Voter Act,” the judge wrote. The GOP said they would be at a political disadvantage if the law remains in effect.

“The mail voting law will also materially affect the competitive environment in which candidate plaintiffs campaign for public office and their likelihood of future victory,” a GOP brief states.

Republicans contend the financial cost to prepare for a change in voting method would be too much in a limited period of time. The Times Union reported last month that Stefanik and the GOP have been pushing “legal ballot harvesting” and encouraging its constituents to enroll to vote by mail.

Stefanik described Ryba’s ruling as “another example of New York’s lawless and rampant corruption.” A spokesman for Hochul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.