By Hank Russell
A group of New York Republican elected officials is asking a federal court to block an election law so that it doesn’t have to apply to their elections this year.
On August 10, the candidates asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York for leave to seek a preliminary injunction that would keep the Even Year Election Law (EYEL) from applying to their 2026 races. Each was elected in November 2025, but the EYEL shortened their terms and forces them to run again this year — this time on an even-year ballot alongside national and statewide contests.
The plaintiffs in New York Republican State Committee, et al. v. Kosinski, et al., No. 2:25-cv-06083 (E.D.N.Y.) include North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti, Nassau County Legislator and former U.S. Congressional candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip (R-Manhasset), Eastchester Town Supervisor Anthony Colavita and Clarkston Town Clerk Lauren Marie Wohl.
On October 30, 2025, the case was filed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip with Judge Gary R. Brown presiding. Additional plaintiffs included the New York State Republican State Committee (NYSRC), county GOP committees and the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways. The New York State Board of Elections commissioners and the state of New York were named as defendants.
A second amended complaint was filed on July 9, 2026, narrowing the case to a single First Amendment claim. The plaintiffs’ attorney argued that the EYEL violated their clients’ right to free political speech by moving most local elections — outside of New York City — from odd- to even-numbered years, placing downballot races on the same ballot as federal and state elections. Further, their legal team argued that the local candidates are in “ballot Siberia” by having them compete with the higher-profile candidates.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, State Senator James Skoufris (D-Cornwall) introduced the EYEL, which shifts elections for certain offices from odd- to even-numbered years. In 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law, which was scheduled to go into effect the following year. But a lawsuit was filed, challenging the law.
LILP also reported that, in October 2024, a state Supreme Court judge tossed the law, only to have a state appeals court reverse the lower court’s decision, much to the dismay of the GOP opponents.
“A candidate’s ability to reach voters is not a courtesy the state can switch off when it becomes politically inconvenient — it is a right the Constitution guarantees,” said William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “New York spent a century keeping local races on their own calendar for good reason. The Even Year Election Law throws them onto a ballot where a town supervisor competes with a presidential campaign for the same airtime and the same attention. That is a fight local candidates cannot win, and it was designed that way. We are asking the court to step in before these candidates are forced to run under it.”
LILP reached out to the BOE. “It remains Board practice to not comment on pending litigation,” the agency stated.