ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York law allowing all registered voters to cast their ballots by mail was upheld Tuesday by the state’s highest court, which rejected a Republican challenge to the legislation.
The 6-1 ruling from the state Court of Appeals affirmed lower courts in finding that the voting expansion law approved by the Legislature last year did not violate the state's constitution. The lawsuit was part of a widespread GOP effort to tighten voting rules after the 2020 election and was led by U.S.
Rep. Elise Stefanik. Challengers argued that the state constitution mandates that most people vote in person.
Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote in the majority opinion that while the question was “difficult” and one the high court had never considered before, there was no such requirement. The decision means that the millions of New Yorkers expected to vote in the Nov. 5 election will be able to cast ballots by mail if they wish — something that only a sliver of people could do before a series of rule changes that began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republicans denounced the court’s decision. “New York’s court system is so corrupt and disgraceful that today’s ruling has essentially declared that for over 150 years, New York’s elected officials, voters, and judges misunderstood their own state’s Constitution, and that in-person voting was never required outside the current legal absentee process,” Stefanik said in a prepared statement. Gov.
Kathy Ho.