The federal lawsuit filed last year by Mayor Byron Brown of Buffalo, against the May petition deadline for independent candidates, is beginning to move ahead. All discovery must be completed by November 1, 2022 in Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, w.d., 1:21cv-982.

There is virtual unanimity among court precedents that independent candidate petitions (for office other than president) cannot be earlier than the date on which major parties choose their nominees (except when states have very late primaries, in September). Yet New York, since 2019, has required independent candidate petitions to be submitted almost a month before the June primaries. In 2021, the U.S. District Court Judge enjoined the May petition deadline, but the Second Circuit, without explaining why, stayed his order.