The New York State Court of Appeals, the highest state court in that state, ruled at 6 pm on February 25 that the Independence Party should be restored to the ballot, for the special election being held in the 48th State Senate. The election is February 26.

Such last-minute changes to the ballot are only possible because New York state uses mechanical voting machines. The Court ruled that the valid Independence Party nominee is Will Barclay, who is also the Republican Party nominee and Conservative Party nominee.

The 48th State Senate district has two counties and part of a third. One county Independence Party organization had chosen Will Barclay, but the other county party organization had chosen the Democratic nominee, Darrel Aubertine. State party rules said that the county that chose Barclay should have the upper hand, since it cast more votes in November 2006 for the party’s gubernatorial vote. But the lower state courts had said that the party rule is only applicable if the two counties had identical rules for making nominations in special elections. Therefore, the lower courts had said, only the State Committee of the party had the power to make the nomination, and since it hadn’t done so by the deadline, the party could have no nominee.

The State Court of Appeals decision is unanimous. It depends on a technicality. The State Board of Elections had put Barclay on the ballot as the Independence Party nominee, and the State Court of Appeals said that his opponent had no standing to challenge that decision. The case is Fehrman v N.Y. State Bd. of Elections, no. 106.