Buffaloed
We could write an editorial every day on how so very badly the Legislature mishandles the election law in this state (and maybe we should). The other day was about Albany mangling the procedures for filling legislative vacancies, which forced Gov. Hochul to delay until this week her appointment of state Sen. Brian Benjamin to be lieutenant governor.
Today’s inanity comes from Buffalo, where the state’s stupidly written law on independent ballot lines was just ruled unconstitutional by both a state and federal judge, on the same day.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, seeking a fifth term, tried to ignore a Democratic primary challenge from a self-declared Socialist, India Walton. He didn’t spend much. He didn’t campaign much. He didn’t debate her. And in the June 22 primary, Walton beat Brown by 1,049 votes, 11,718 to 10,669, with a turnout of 22% of the city’s 106,417 Democrats. Walton got 11% of Democrats and Brown scored 10%. So confident was just about everyone in the Queen City that Brown would win, the Republicans didn’t even field a candidate.
Understandably, after losing the Democratic nomination, the stunned Brown decided to run on an independent party line in November for a rematch with Walton — letting all 155,958 registered voters pick the mayor. He needed 750 signatures and he collected 3,000. That’s democracy, or it ought to be. He filed his petitions on Aug. 17, 11 weeks before Election Day, which had been the rule since 1985.
However, in 2019 the Legislature, in moving the annual primaries from September to June, also moved back the date for independent ballot line petitions to May 25, close to half a year before the November vote.
Oops. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1983 that independent ballot line deadlines can’t be too far in advance of Election Day. Twenty-three weeks is clearly much too early, ruled Buffalo Federal Judge John Sinatra and Eric County state Supreme Court Justice Paul Wojtaszek last week. Put Brown and his Buffalo Party on the general-election ballot where they belong.