This week- 11th Congressional District Remap Case Awaits U.S. Supreme Court Action; Census Funding Sought in State Budget; State Elections Board Approves Crypto Currency Contributions; Assembly & Senate Election Law Bills; Attorney General VRA Preclearance; N.Y.S. Census Partnership Seeks State Support for Census Efforts; Around the Nation: Virginia, Maryland, Utah
LITIGATION
Congressional Redistricting
Williams et. al v. New York State Board of Elections et. al
With congressional primary campaign petitioning set to get underway, New York’s congressional map remains uncertain. Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis’ request for the U.S. Supreme Court to “stay” the court decision to redraw the 11th congressional district remains undecided as of presstime.
Last month, New York County State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman found the 2024 Congressional Map unconstitutional under Article III, Section 4(c)(1) of the New York Constitution, enjoined respondents from using the map in future elections, and ordered the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) to redraw the 11th district. a new Congressional map.
On January 26, counsel for the intervenor-respondent Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-RIchmond) and individual voters filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals challenging the decision and order from the New York Supreme Court. Intervenor-respondents and respondents filed similar Emergency Motions for Interim Stay and Stay Pending Appeal in the Appellate Division, First Department.
On February 11, the Court of Appeals, on its own motion after deliberating the papers, declined to hear the congressional case and transferred the appeal to the Appellate Division, First Department.
On February 19, the Appellate Division denied intervenor-respondents’ motions, lifted the statewide stay, and ordered the IRC to complete a new congressional map as the trial court decision directed. The Appellate Division appears to have retained jurisdiction for future hearings on the merits.
On February 12, counsel for the Malliotakis intervenor-respondents, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis filed an emergency application for stay with the United States Supreme Court.
On February 19, counsel for the Democratic plaintiffs filed a brief in opposition to the stay. The Democratic plaintiffs argue that the intervenor-respondents jumping over available relief from New York’s appellate courts is procedurally improper. Further, they argue that the dispute is far outside the Supreme Court’s authority to step into state-court proceedings because no New York appellate court or state Court of Appeals has issued a final decision on the federal issue raised by the intervenor-respondents. Also, the Democratic plaintiffs argue that even with the Appellate Division’s denial of a stay, the Supreme Court’s intervention now could encourage future applicants to bypass state courts instead of waiting for final rulings.
State Respondents, Governor Kathy Hochul, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Carl E. Heastie, and Attorney General Letitia James filed a brief in opposition to the stay. They argue that the state courts, not the federal courts, are responsible for resolving state election litigation quickly while minimizing disruptions to the state’s election calendar. Further, state respondents argue that pausing the trial court order would interfere with New York’s authority to run its own elections. Also, they argue that there is enough time for the state’s appellate courts to decide the appeals on the merits while managing upcoming election deadlines, just like redistricting challenges in 2022.
Individual Republican members of the New York State IRC, Charles Nesbitt, , John Conway III, Lisa R. Harris, Willis H. Stephens Jr., and Ross Brady (who is not a Republican but sits with them) filed a brief in support of the stay. They argue that the IRC must not be compelled to draw an unconstitutional racially gerrymandered map because the trial court order requires the IRC to violate the Equal Protection Clause.
Joseph Israel Silverstein, a member of the Kings County Republican Party County Committee and Law Committee filed an amicus brief in support of the stay. He argues that granting an emergency stay is in the public interest because New Yorkers that live in Staten Island and South Brooklyn are more right-leaning than the rest of the city, and the trial court order would mute their voices. Further, he argues that the trial court order runs contrary to the will of the voters and elected state legislature. Also, Silverstein argues that the trial court order will throw the local political parties into disarray and diminish the public’s trust in the judiciary.
On February 20, counsel for intervenor-respondents, filed a reply brief in support of a stay arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court has ample authority to grant them relief that has been denied by New York courts, by February 23. They argue that it is clearly unconstitutional to block a state from conducting elections unless it redraws a district based on race. Intervenor-respondents also argue that the court violated due process by adopting and applying a legal test that no party proposed and that reading an unwritten requirement for a crossover district into the New York Constitution violates the Elections Clause.
Counsel for applicants, Republican State Board of Election members Peter Kosinski, Anthony J. Casale, and staff director Raymond J. Riley, III filed a reply brief in support of a stay. They argue that the petitioner’s claimed injuries are speculative and outweighed by the concrete harm facing the applicants, candidates, and voters. Further, counsel for the applicants argue that the U.S. Supreme Court has clear jurisdiction to intervene because it fits squarely in the authority to stay state-court orders and that all state remedies have been exhausted. Also, they argue that a stay is warranted because the Supreme Court is likely to reverse given the trial court’s violations of due process and Equal Protection Clause.
As of Monday, February 23rd, the U.S. Supreme Court has not acted on the motion to stay the New York decision. We can anticipate U.S. Supreme Court action on February 24th or later. If the Court does not stay the New York case, Justice Jeffrey Pearlman can be expected to take the next steps by convening a case status conference with the parties (that now includes members of the Independent Redistricting Commission) and determining how to draw a new map for the 11th congressional district. If the Commission fails to draw a new map, the judge can consider retaining a special master (given the short time frame, a master can work quickly) or send the mapping to the state legislature for action.
NY STATE CENSUS FUNDING
NEW YORK STATE CENSUS FUNDING SOUGHT
The New York State Census Partnership is launching an effort to ensure that the state government invest in 2030 census planning in the new state budget. Governor Hochul’s proposed budget included funding to support efforts for a full and complete census, including the creation of a census support office and efforts to assist local governments to undertake the Local Update of Census Addresses program (known as LUCA), which is the only opportunity for local governments to review and correct the list of addresses for the upcoming census.
Efforts are underway to support a $15 million funding allocation and authorization for a state census assistance office in the Department of State and a New York Counts Commission comprised of seasoned census experts who can help guide and implement state and local census efforts. Legislation to create a state census office and full count committee, along with a $15 million appropriation, are included in legislation introduced by Assemblymember Michaelle Solages (D-Nassau) and Senator Jeremy Cooney (D-Monroe) (A.5868/A/6898).
The major effort for census funding would go to support local governments and to non-profit and community-based organizations, academic specialists and other experts, all of whom know how to organize a census effort at a local level, including the LUCA field operations in 2027.
The LUCA program is the first major operation in the 2030 Census cycle and the foundation for a full and accurate population count. The census can only enumerate people living in homes that appear on the Census Bureau’s Master Address File. LUCA involves deploying local workers to canvass housing units in a town, county, or city. It takes immense time and effort. When a housing unit is missing from the address list, the people who live there are at risk of being omitted from the census entirely, which affects political representation, funding distribution, and planning decisions for the next decade.
A successful local-based community organizing effort to support county and municipal LUCA efforts might run from $30,000 to $60,000 in a single community. Adequate funding for LUCA outreach effort by local governments, supported by trusted local community groups to help locate garages, basements, attics, accessory dwelling units, and otherwise missed addresses can make a major difference in New York’s census count.
New York City’s 2020 LUCA effort was able to document 122,322 addresses that the Census Bureau erroneously omitted. Through programs like LUCA, New York City added a total of 265,595 addresses to the census master address list. These updates resulted in approximately 500,000 New Yorkers being enumerated, who may otherwise have been missed.
Efforts are underway to include census funding in the Senate and Assembly’s one-house budgets.
ELECTION ADMINISTRATION & LEGISLATION
State Board of Elections Approves Crypto Contributions
The State Board of Elections has approved the ability of candidates to accept campaign contributions through cryptocurrency. The Board indicated that the rule change parallels the Federal Election Commission policy that such contributions can be defined as gifts, money, or “anything of value” sent to a candidate and that cryptocurrency falls within the federal agency’s guidelines. These contributions would be considered “in kind,” similar to how uses of a meeting hall would qualify as an “in kind” contribution and not as cash. Cryptocurrency contributions would not qualify for state matching funds.
State Assembly Election Law Committee Approves Bills
Earlier this month, the New York State Assembly’s Election Law Committee met to advance various technical election law fixes. Notably, the agenda did not include any of the “Democracy Day” package of bills advanced by the State Senate in January, covered previously by our newsletter here. However, each bill advanced by the Assembly addresses a deficiency in the Election Law, and should be considered by the Senate before the 2026 midterm elections.
A559A (Paulin) / S8260 (Skoufis) reforms the rigid and unforgiving ‘candidate declination’ statute, allowing a candidate who is diagnosed with a serious health condition or has resigned the office for which they are nominated or designated to run for re-election, to decline and withdraw their name from the ballot. This ensures that the candidate ultimately selected is ready and able to serve, allows the subject candidate to focus on their health or personal challenges, and ensures that voters receive a ballot reflective of the actual candidates in the race. The Senate has not advanced this proposal in 2026 or prior.
A4423B (Dilan) / S3791A (Myrie) harmonizes the “statement of the absentee voter” that is required to be printed on town and school board ballot envelopes, to be consistent with the election law regarding the eligibility of justice-involved citizens to vote, so long as they are not presently incarcerated for a felony conviction. This bill was referred to the Codes Committee and is on the Assembly’s Codes agenda this coming Tuesday. In the State Senate, the bill sits in the Education Committee where it has not advanced to the floor in 2026 or prior.
A8388 (Jackson) / S1809 (Fernandez) permits a local board of elections to hire college and university students attending college in their county as poll workers so long as they are registered voters anywhere in New York State. This streamlines and improves recruitment opportunities for young people attending higher education around the state, where poll worker recruitment challenges persist, and where many of the current poll workers will retire in the next few years. This bill died on the Assembly floor in 2025 and passed the Senate in 2024 and 2025.
Senate Election Committee Meets Tuesday
On Tuesday, as Budget Season kicks into high gear in Albany, the State Senate’s Elections Committee will meet to advance the following election administration, campaign finance, and disclosure bills:
S88A (Gianaris) / A6772 (Reyes) adjusts New York’s recently enacted Automatic Voter Registration program in an effort to (preemptively) reduce the risk of mistaken registration by ineligible people. This approach to AVR filters those who are clearly citizens into the automatic voter registration process; filters those who are clearly not citizens out of any voter registration opportunity; and, those with indeterminate citizenship based on the agency interaction would be required to affirmatively indicate they are eligible to vote and opt in to registration instead of being automatically channeled into the AVR (opt-out) process. In the Introducers’ Memo, the bill sponsors identify where the rubber meets the road: “In our efforts to expand voting access, we must balance the goal of fully streamlining registration for eligible people with the goal of protecting vulnerable persons from an honest mistake.” This bill passed the Senate in 2025 and died in Assembly Election law.
S417 (Gianaris) / A4307 (Dinowitz): Known as CEVA, this bill would create a clear definition of “Margin of Victory” for purposes of triggering close-contest recounts, ensuring that all ballots cast are included in the analysis. This bill also clarifies the election law for races designed to have multiple winners. This bill passed the Senate in 2024 and 2025, but died in committee in the Assembly.
S559 (Krueger) / A1993 (Colton) increases poll worker minimum pay to at least $300 and increases NYC Poll Site Coordinator pay to no less than $350. This bill has passed the Senate for the past several years but has died in the Assembly.
S569 (May) / A6449 (Griffin) permits local boards of elections to establish one or more countywide polling places on Election Day, where any eligible voter in the county can cast a ballot. This bill, modeled on the successful adoption of countywide Early Voting, passed the Senate in 2025
S2437A (Krueger) / A3929B (Dinowitz) adds social media posts paid for by a campaign to the list of tactics and tools that are regulated and must be disclosed and filed under the election law’s campaign finance provisions, improving transparency. The law would require that posts contain a “paid for by” disclosure, like traditional ads. This bill passed the Senate in 2024 and 2025, but died in Assembly election law.
S4482 (Mayer) / A5059 (Jacobson) This technical bill requires that a cover sheet be provided where candidates or other individuals are subpoenaed in an election law case (under EL article 16), explaining in plain language what the matter is regarding, why the subpoena was issued, and clarifying that it doesn’t relate to criminal charges. This bill passed the Senate in 2022-2025.
S5142 (Myrie) would exempt poll workers’ earnings from federal adjusted gross income or from factoring into determining state benefits. This bill passed the Senate in 2022-2025.
S5183 (Jackson) / A1566A (Taylor) is a voter protection bill that adds a conspicuous notice to the mail ballot envelopes reminding such voters that they must properly sign their affirmation envelope before returning their mail ballot. This bill passed the Senate in 2024 and 2025.
S7962 (Gonzalez) / A7829 (Walker) adjusts and clarifies the timeframe for a candidate designated for multiple party nominations in a general election to decline a nomination, changing the current deadline from ten days to seven days following certification of the primary. This bill passed the Senate in 2025.
S7963 (Gonzalez) / A8523 (Bores) This AI transparency bill mandates that political campaigns disclose when AI is used in a political ad that contains photos or videos, so that the public is aware when Al is being used to shape the political discourse. Beginning in 2030, statewide campaigns would be required to apply and disclose “provenance data”, about the add, including (I) the type of device or system used to generate the audio, image, or video; (II) the portions of the ad that are synthetic (if any); whether the content was created or modified using AI tools; (IV) the name of the AI provider used to generate any synthetic content in the ad; and (V) the time and date the provenance data was applied. Even unintentional violations can result in pricey fines assessed by the Attorney General. This new bill did not move in 2025.
S8615 (Gonzalez) proposes an “election security navigator program” within the State Board of Elections to provide technical assistance and improved coordination with local boards of elections in preparing for and mitigating threats to elections. Under this ambitious proposal a “program director” with expertise in election cybersecurity, operational security, and personnel management will oversee a team that provides assistance on a voluntary basis to local boards in mitigating cybersecurity threats and improving preparedness; facilitate information sharing between the state board, local jurisdictions, and local boards on election threats and incidents; conduct risk assessments for election offices; assist with incident response planning; provide training; and, develop an election security navigators student program with SUNY. This support framework could improve election resiliency and coordination among state and local authorities. This new bill does not yet have a companion bill in the Assembly.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT
N.Y. Attorney General’s Office Preclearance
There was no preclearance activity in the past week.
All submissions can be viewed at: https://nyvra-portal.ag.ny.gov/
NY COUNTY LEGISLATIVE REFORM
VOTING CHANGE SOUGHT IN COUNTY BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1962 Baker v. Carr decision, every legislative body in the United States that elects candidates from districts has been subject to the “one person/one vote” population equality requirement for electing legislators to office. The concept of equal representation on standing committees of the 15 New York counties with Boards of Supervisors is now being raised by activists who want to see the state legislature take action. They argue that an inequity is created when Supervisor Boards (where each town elects supervisors to serve on the county board and whose votes are “weighted” based on population when the board votes), does not extend to the board’s committees where major decisions are often made.
According to Saratoga County resident Gordon Boyd, “In these counties, the principal of “one person, one vote” applies only when the full Board votes. When the full Boards vote, a population-weighted allocation i s applied to each Supervisor for resolutions, local laws or other measures. A weighted-vote majority prevails. However, in standing committees, the rule is “one Supervisor, one vote,” resulting in gross underrepresentation of the residents of larger towns in these counties.
“In Saratoga County, for example, the Supervisors of the Town of Day (population 819) and the Town of Halfmoon (population 25,662) have equal votes on the committee that controls social services. Thus, the residents of Day have about 30 times the say-so as the residents of Halfmoon on that committee. Boyd maintains that “because all legislation originates in the committees, the effect of this rule is to disenfranchise taxpayers, residents and voters of the larger towns.”
Boyd is asking state legislators to consider legislation to require weighted voting on Board of Supervisors standing committees.
AROUND THE NATION
MARYLAND: Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has indicated that efforts to redraw Maryland’s congressional map mid-cycle likely will not happen, despite pressure from national and state Democrats.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) paid an unexpected visit to Annapolis last week but was not able to convince Senate Democrats to join Governor Wes Moore and House of Delegates leaders to draw a new map that would have eliminated chances for the state’s only Republican Member of Congress to get reelected. “Given the timeline of where things stand, the window of opportunity had closed,” Ferguson told reporters during a Friday news conference.
VIRGINIA: Democrats are facing another obstacle in placing a referendum before voters to approve a new congressional map on April 21st. Tazewell County Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. agreed with Republicans in a new lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee seeking to block the April referendum whose explanatory ballot phrasing could confuse voters of the ballot question that would be posed to voters. Democrats are appealing to the State Supreme Court.
UTAH: A federal court three-judge panel rejected a Republican motion for a preliminary injunction to block Utah’s new congressional map from going in to effect. The new map will be used for the 2026 midterms. Democrats stand to pick up one seat.
INSTITUTE RESOURCES
The New York Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute has archived many resources for the public to view on our Digital Commons Page.
Our Redistricting Resources page contains resources on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. You can access the page here: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/redistricting_resources/
Archived Updates can be accessed here: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/redistricting_roundtable_updates/
Please share this weekly update with your colleagues. To be added to the mailing list, please contact Jeffrey.wice@nyls.edu
The N.Y. Elections, Census & Redistricting Institute is supported by grants from the New York Community Trust, New York Census Equity Fund, the Mellon Foundation, and the New York City Council. This report was prepared by Jeff Wice, Esha Shah and Jarret Berg.