Conservative Party of New York State and Working Families Party v. New York State Board of Elections

The Conservative Party and the Working Families party—represented by the Brennan Center for Justice and the law firm of Emery Celli Brinkerhoff & Abady—filed a lawsuit challenging a discriminatory New York State policy for counting political party votes under a procedure known as “double voting.”

Published: September 15, 2010

The Working Families Party and the Conservative Party— represented by the Brennan Center for Justice and the law firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady—have sued the New York State Board of Elections over a discriminatory New York State policy for counting political party votes under a procedure known as “double voting.”

Double voting results when a voter checks more than one box for the same candidate running on more than one party line. Under the state’s policy, the major party gets the full vote and the minor party gets no credit.

New York’s “fusion” voting system allows for the same candidate to run on both a major party as well as a minor party line. This allows voters to vote for a major party candidate while supporting a minor party. With the lever machines used in New York until this year, voters could not vote for the same candidate on both major and minor party lines. With the new system, voters can “double-vote” in this way, without any warning that their vote will only count for the major party and without any opportunity to correct their ballot.

The issue is of particular importance to minor parties in New York, given that the results of the gubernatorial election are used to determine a party’s placement on the ballot for the next four years. Only parties who receive at least 50,000 votes are entitled to a guaranteed place on the ballot, and the order of their appearance is based on the number of votes that they previously received.

The policy unfairly penalizes both the voters and the minor parties they support. The State should take inmmediate action to correct this problem. To read the press release, click here.

________________________________________

Selected Legal Documents

Complaint (9/14/2010)

Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/01/10)

Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/01/10)

City Organizations of the New York Independence Party Amici Curiae Brief (10/01/10)

Declaration of Eric Hecker in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/01/10)

Declaration of Dan Cantor in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/01/10)

Declaration of Mike Long in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/01/10)

Declaration of Dan Wallach in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/01/10)

Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/08/10)

Affidavit of Robert A. Brehm in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (10/08/10)