In 2021, a federal lawsuit was filed against New York’s May petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties. That case was filed by the Mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, who had submitted an independent petition after the deadline had passed. The U.S. District Court enjoined the deadline, but the Second Circuit issued a stay, without explaining why. Thus the Mayor did not get on the ballot as an independent. However, he nevertheless won the general election in November 2021 as a write-in candidate.
His case is still alive, and the issue of whether the deadline is unconstitutional will be the next stage. There will be a status conference before the U.S. District Court Judge on April 20. The state recently filed an Answer to the Complaint. Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, w.d., 1:21cv-982.
In a related New York development, the Libertarian Party is expected to file a new lawsuit very soon against the ban on out-of-state circulators. New York is the only remaining state in which out-of-state petitioners cannot work on any candidate petitions. The Libertarian Party already won a similar case against New York in 2017, but then in 2018 it became a ballot-qualified party and in the meantime the state had appealed. The Second Circuit then declared the case moot because the party had become ballot-qualified, and the Second Circuit felt that the party thus wouldn’t need out-of-state circulators any more. But then in 2020, the legislature made it far more difficult for a party to remain on the ballot, and it lost its qualified status in November 2020. Thus the case needs to be fought all over again.
