Attorney Says It’s About Localities Being Able ‘to Govern Themselves’
By Hank Russell
An amended complaint has been filed on behalf of the New York State Republican Party and numerous local municipalities over the newly enacted Even Year Election Law (EYEL). The complaint contends that the law suppresses free speech, and prevents local issues from being heard. It further alleges that elections for the local officials and issues will be overshadowed by those at the state and federal levels.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, a state Supreme Court judge last year tossed a law that would move all local elections outside of New York City to even-numbered years, stating that the law was in violation of the state constitution. Further, it trampled on the rights of local governments. Republicans said this was a victory for voting rights, while Democrats said the ruling would continue a pattern of low voter turnout.
Two months ago, a state appeals court sided with Democrat supporters of the law by reversing the lower court’s decision, much to the dismay of the GOP opponents. The court determined that the EYEL did not violate the state’s constitution, LILP previously reported.
The law, LILP also reported, was introduced by state Senator James Skoufris (D-Cornwall) and signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2023.
According to a copy of the complaint obtained by LILP, the EYEL “purposely and effectively will suppress local speech, increase racial polarization, and erode democracy in every county outside of the five boroughs that comprise New York City.” They claim EYEL violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the New York and federal Voting Rights Acts.
“Cloaked in the rhetoric of increased ‘voter turnout,’ the change is a calculated attempt to centralize top-of-the-ticket political power at the expense of local candidates being able to reach their constituencies in Republican-controlled counties,” the complaint states. “However, the EYEL so badly undermines the ability of local candidates to reach their constituents that several statewide associations of locally elected officials oppose it.”
Among those who suing Hochul and the NYS Board of Elections are the New York Republican State Committee; the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc.; the Nassau and Suffolk County Republican Committees; the Counties of Suffolk and Nassau; the Towns of Hempstead, Oyster Bay, North Hempstead, Brookhaven, Islip, Riverhead and Huntington, North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti, Nassau County Legislator Mazi M. Pilip, Hempstead Town Councilmember Laura A. Ryder; Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips; and Suffolk County Legislative candidates Raheem Soto, Jarod Morris and Laura Endres.
The plaintiffs also argued that local elected officials will have to spend more money on TV advertising to get their messages out to the voters. Citing the Pew Research Center, only $207 million was spent on local TV advertising. In 2022, that figure shot up to $1.9 billion.
“Faced with an advertising environment inflated by billions of dollars in national spending, local candidates will not be able to compete—an ‘unnecessary gag’ on local speech that transforms their campaigns into mere footnotes on overcrowded ballots,” according to the complaint.
In a statement, William A. Brewer III, a partner with Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and the plaintiffs’ lead counsel, said, “Local candidates will be forced to run again on shortened timelines, local elections will be buried under federal races, and voters will be deprived of meaningful choice. Fortunately, the Constitution does not permit government officials to implement a system designed to silence local democracy.”
Brewer called the case one that is “about defending the right of communities to govern themselves — to debate local issues, elect local leaders, and be heard without being drowned out by national politics. That is what the First Amendment protects, and that is what this lawsuit seeks to restore.”
LILP reached out to the NYS Board of Elections, but did not hear back.
This reporter also reached out to the governor’s office. “The Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision to uphold New York’s even-year election law is a victory for democracy and all New Yorkers,” Hochul said in a statement. “I championed this legislation because I believe our state is stronger when more people have the opportunity to make their voices heard. By aligning local elections with the state and federal calendar, we’re making it easier for New Yorkers to participate in government. At a time when voting rights are under attack across the nation, New York is proudly moving in the opposite direction.”