NYCLU Seeks to Intervene in Partisan Lawsuit Attacking Absentee Voting

NEW YORK – Today the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a motion to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit brought by Republican and Conservative Party leaders challenging the state’s laws governing who is eligible for an absentee ballot in New York and how they are canvassed.

The lawsuit, filed last week in state Supreme Court in Saratoga County, challenges a 2022 law that expedites absentee ballot canvassing, and it seeks to throw out another recent law allowing voters who fear contracting COVID-19 to send in absentee ballots. In its motion, the NYCLU asks the court to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety.

“This lawsuit is part of an increasingly common legal tactic to file meritless lawsuits that undermine public confidence in elections,” said Perry Grossman, supervising attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Under the guise of voter integrity, State Republicans are trying to reinstate a system that would subject voters to unjustified delays, partisan challenges, and the threat of disenfranchisement without due process.”

While New York has for years suffered from low voter turnout rates, absentee ballot usage increased substantially in New York since the emergence of COVID-19.

“To wait until after absentee ballots have already been issued could sow chaos just weeks ahead of the general election,” said Terry Ding, staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union. “While COVID-19 and other public health issues continue to endanger New Yorkers, our elected officials should be working to protect and expand our vulnerable community members’ access to the vote, not undermine it.”

You can find case materials here: https://www.nyclu.org/en/cases/nyclus-opposition-partisan-lawsuit-attacking-absentee-voting