This week: Brooklyn Democratic Leadership Fight Continues in Court; Federal Court Even Year Election Law Challenge Proceeds; U.S. Attorney Charges Five With Illegal Voting; What To Know Before Election Day; How To Help Protect the Vote; Census 2030: A Guide For the Perplexed; Proposed Rule to Change Decennial Census Comment Period Extended to November 2; Around the Nation (From Redistricting Network)
LITIGATION
Brooklyn Democratic Leadership Fight Continues In State Court
Julio Pena III v. Nydia Velázquez et al
Last week’s coverage of the ongoing Brooklyn Democratic leadership fight lawsuit incorrectly stated that “Velázquez’s lawyers are temporarily paused from interfering with or trying to withdraw the party’s appeal.” Instead, Justice Sweeney did not enjoin Representative Velázquez because he felt it would be “presumptuous” for a lower court to dictate who is allowed to appear before the Court of Appeals in a separate proceeding and Nikki Lucas did not meet the probable success on the merits standard.
Justice Sweeney will hold an order to show cause on October 20th, where petitioner Julio Pena III will argue why an order should not be made to dismiss the second amended petition.
Nydia Velázquez et al. v. Nikki Lucas et al
On October 4th, despite a lower court ruling, former Kings County Democratic Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and her allies held a late-night Zoom meeting where outgoing leadership voted to install Assembly Member Nikki Lucas as the new Executive Committee Chair.
On October 12th, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, who the lower court decided was currently the sole legal officer with party-wide executive authority, filed a lawsuit against Nikki Lucas.
The complaint argues that the October 4th meeting was in direct violation of a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by Supreme Court Justice Lewis, barring holding an executive committee meeting or giving effect to disputed rules. The complaint further argues that the meeting was called by Bichotte Hermelyn, whom the court previously ruled lacks authority to act on behalf of KCDCC. Also, the meeting relied on the rule amendments which were struck down by the Supreme Court and Appellate Division. The complaint also argues that there was a lack of a quorum at the meeting, improper notice of the meeting, and conducted in a closed session without a majority vote.
Petitioners (Nydia Velázquez) are requesting that the October 4th meeting be nullified and that the court finds no officers were validly elected, including Nikki Lucas. Petitioners are further requesting that the court declare that the meeting violated state party rules and reaffirm that only Velázquez has lawful authority over the Executive Committee.
Justice Sweeney will hold an order to show cause on October 20th, where the respondents will argue, among other things, why an order should not be made to declare the October 4th meeting null.
Even Year Election Law: New York Republican State Committee v. State of New York
The New York Republican State Committee’s lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York against New York and Governor Kathy Hochul challenging the state’s Even Year Election Law (EYEL) is ongoing.
On October 13th, a pre-motion conference was held to discuss the state’s motion to dismiss. The court decided it needs additional briefing on the issues discussed; a brief is due November 12th followed by a response due two weeks later.
ELECTIONS
U.S. Attorney Charges Five Non-Citizens With Illegal Voting
As reported by Tyler McNeil in the Albany Times Union, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York has charged five persons with voting illegally in recent federal elections. One non-citizen permanent U.S. residents was issued a drivers licenses by the New York State Division of Motor Vehicles and was allegedly registered to vote at the same time using the motor vehicles form. Another Albany resident claimed she was informed that she could not vote without proper immigration status but apparently registered to vote in error.
New York Voter Guide: What to Know Before Election Day
As the November 3rd general election approaches, understanding voting options and deadlines is essential. Whether you are a first-time voter or a longtime participant, planning ahead can help ensure that your vote is counted.
Here are a few dates to keep in mind:
Election Day: Tuesday, November 3. Polls are open from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM in New York.
Early voting: October 24th through November 1st. Hours and locations vary by county.
Voter registration deadline: October 24th.
Early mail and absentee ballot applications: Applications submitted online or by mail must be received by October 24th
In-person applications are accepted through November 2nd.
You can check the New York State Board of Elections website for more information.
In-person early voting: Registered voters can vote in person before Election Day without providing a reason. No advance ballot request is necessary. In New York City, your early voting location may differ from your Election Day polling place. Check your assigned location and hours before going.
Early mail ballot: Any registered voter can request an early mail ballot without giving a reason. You can apply online, by mail, or in person through your county Board of Elections. This option is ideal for voters who prefer to complete their ballot at home.
Absentee ballot: Absentee ballots are for voters who qualify under New York’s eligibility rules. Reasons may include being away from your county on Election Day, illness or disability, or caregiving responsibilities. Business travel or attending school away from home may qualify depending on the circumstances. Unlike an early mail application, an absentee application requires you to indicate your qualifying reason.
Learn more or apply through the State Board of Elections.
Returning Your Mail Ballot: Follow the instructions included with your ballot carefully. Mark your choices, complete and sign the required oath or affirmation envelope, and seal and return the envelopes as directed.
For the November election in New York, ballots must be postmarked by November 3rd and received by your county Board of Elections by November 10th. You may also deliver your ballot to your county Board of Elections office or an authorized polling location by 9:00 PM. on Election Day. Ballots can also be delivered to an early voting site in your county during the early voting period.
Return your ballot early to reduce the risk of postal delays.
Resources for New York City Voters
NYC Votes provides nonpartisan information about candidates, ballot proposals, registration, and voting dates. You can confirm your registration, research candidates using reliable sources, and check your polling location before voting. You cannot cast a regular vote entirely online, but online services can help you access information and request a ballot.
If you live outside New York City, information can be found at: https://elections.ny.gov/
Make Your Voting Plan
Before November 3rd, you can confirm your registration, choose your voting method, and review official deadlines. If voting by mail, request and return your ballot early. Every eligible vote matters, and preparation helps ensure your voice is heard
Connecticut voters can find voting information at: https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Election-Services/Voter-Information/Voter-Fact-Sheet
New Jersey voters can find voting information at: https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/vote.shtml
New York City: Volunteer Protect the Vote On Election Day
Do you want to help protect the vote on Election Day?
The New York City Bar Association held a virtual program on September 22nd, “Ensuring Fair Elections and Voter Participation: What Lawyers Can Do,” https://bit.ly/47txBdR to encourage lawyers to become involved in election protection efforts (a recording of the program is available here https://bit.ly/4s9witY).
You can also visit the City Bar Association voter protection page at https://www.nycbar.org/serving-the-community/election-protection-opportunities-for-lawyers/, for listings for both lawyers and non-lawyers to get involved.
Common Cause NY is also coordinating a non-partisan statewide voter protection effort.
To learn more, go to: https://bit.ly/4hSWPbJ
N.Y. VOTING RIGHTS ACT
N.Y. Attorney General’s Office Preclearance Activity
1601 New York City Board of Elections-language assistance- preliminarily granted
All submissions can be viewed at: https://nyvra-portal.ag.ny.gov/
CENSUS
The 2030 Census, So Far: A Guide For The Perplexed
With A Nod Toward Maimonides, Here’s A Look At Where Things Stand
By Mike Schneider
The 2030 census is in trouble due to unprecedented political interference from the Trump administration.
The 2030 census is four years off, and you may be wondering, why should we care about this now?
What happens now determines how the census will be conducted in 2030. The once-a-decade head counts take more than 10 years to prepare and right now the U.S. Census Bureau is smack in the middle of preparations for 2030.
If there is a commonality to the interference, it is to revise who will be counted in the censuses and surveys that provide the United States with a self-portrait. If successful, these efforts will reduce the representation of racial and ethnic minorities, many noncitizens and unauthorized immigrants from the figures that tells us who we are as a nation.
It’s important to get the census right because it determines political power through the apportionment process and the distribution of $2.8 trillion in federal spending each year.
More importantly, it gives us an understanding of who we are. Our democracy is anchored in data.
What has happened in the second Trump administration to date?
The attack on the U.S. statistical system started last year, once President Donald Trump returned to the White House, with the scrubbing of questions on sexual orientation and gender from federal surveys.
Next was the DOGE-ing of federal statistical agencies, with large numbers of experienced statistical workers forced out or deciding to leave the agencies. Agency websites sometimes went down or weren’t updated.
Then came delays in implementing the first changes in more than a quarter-century to how people are officially grouped by the federal government based on race and ethnicity.
The changes finalized during the Biden administration would have added a new category, “Middle Eastern and North African,” (MENA) for people descended from places such as Lebanon, Iran, Egypt and Syria who previously had been encouraged to mark themselves as white. They also would have combined the queries about race and ethnicity into a single question on forms, giving respondents the option to pick multiple categories at the same time, such as “Black,” “American Indian” and “Hispanic. Research has shown that large numbers of Hispanic people aren’t sure how to answer the race question when that question is asked separately because they understand race and ethnicity to be similar, and they often pick “some other race” or do not answer the question.
In the first quarter of 2026, the Trump administration reduced the number of locations where the 2026 census field test would be conducted this summer from six to two. It also said the test would use questions from the much lengthier American Community Survey, which has a citizenship question, instead of from the much shorter, traditional census form.
This summer, the Department of Commerce banned a sophisticated privacy protection method that had been used in the 2020s by the Census Bureau. The Commerce Department ordered the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis to revert back to an old-school method that hadn’t been used for decades.
Researchers believe the ban will dramatically diminish the level of detailed data that the Census Bureau can release.
There already has been a major casualty. Last month, the Census Bureau was supposed to release the 2025 American Community Survey results, also known as the ACS. It is the most comprehensive survey of American life, covering 40 topics including income, housing costs, veterans’ status, computer use, commuting, and education. But the Census Bureau says it had to delay the release indefinitely while it figures out how to comply with the Commerce Department’s order on privacy methods.
We don’t know when the ACS data will be released. This has thrown in a wrench in the plans of city planners, researchers, home builders and many others who rely on the latest ACS data to figure out where to build schools or locate new businesses.
In August, the Census Bureau released a report stating that 24,000 noncitizens voted in the 2020 election. Tellingly, the report was not signed or authored by any Census Bureau staffer, reflecting the wide belief that it was a political hatchet job to perpetuate the false narrative that Trump won the 2020 election.
The report was widely derided, and the previous Census Bureau director said it tarnished the Census Bureau’s reputation.
The biggest bombshell was dropped a month ago, when the Trump administration unveiled a proposed rule change that would restrict unauthorized immigrants and those in the U.S. without a green card from the 2030 census numbers used to redraw congressional districts. It also would eliminate questions about race and ethnicity from the census questionnaire and possibly allow a question about a person’s legal status on the census form. The public comment period on the proposed rule change goes through the beginning of next month.
These proposed revisions are dramatic breaks from how the census has been conducted and could drastically limit who is included and what information is gathered during the 2030 head count. Researchers and data advocates are up in arms about them.
Questions about race have been asked since the first census in 1790. The U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment says “the whole number of persons in each state” should be counted for the numbers used for apportionment. For decades, the Census Bureau has interpreted that to include all people living in the United States, regardless of legal status.
The Trump administration claims that collecting such data puts respondents’ privacy at risk and eliminating it would improve response rates.
So, what is the reason for all of this?
A now-deceased Republican redistricting expert argued that Republicans and non-Hispanic whites get an advantage if only U.S. citizens who are age 18 and older are counted when redrawing congressional and state legislative districts, instead of the total population. The Census Bureau’s own research has shown that adding a citizenship question to a census questionnaire produced lower self-response rates in households with noncitizens and immigrants from Latin America.
The first Trump administration tried some of these tactics but failed.
It’s effort to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census form was stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump also issued an order prohibiting unauthorized immigrants from being counted for apportionment and tried to gather citizenship data from the states. But both orders were rescinded after President Joe Biden was sworn in, and it didn’t affect the 2020 census results which were released in April 2021.
Mike Schneider is a former Associated Press reporter who cover the census.
Comment Period Extended
Census Bureau Extends Comment Period on Census 2030 Questionnaire Overhaul to November 2
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the 2030 Decennial Census (Docket No. 260903-0005) is open for public comment through October 13, 2026.
To date, 21,797 comments have been posted to the federal governmen’t tracking website at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/USBC-2026-0628
Key Aspects of the Proposed Rule
Residence Rules: Changes the definition of “usual residence” to count only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, while excluding non-citizens and temporary status holders. It also consolidates residence categories and mandates tax and federal agency data matching.
Demographics: Removes race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation questions from short-form/enumeration questionnaires.
The Leadership Conference’s Position: Census advocates strongly oppose the changes, joined coalition efforts, and requested an extension to the public comment period, arguing that every person living in the country must be accurately counted.
How to Comment on the Proposed Rule
Online Submission: Submit formal comments directly via the Federal Register Regulations Portal under Docket No. 260903-0005 (or RIN 0607-AA75 / Regulations.gov ID USBC-2026-0628).
Coalitions and advocacy groups have published toolkits and comment guides to help structure feedback:
Review resources and comme90p;//nt templates via “Hands Off Our Census” at www.handsoffourcens.us
OnLine comments can be uploaded here: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/USBC-2026-0628-0001
By Mail: Written comments can also be mailed to the U.S. Census Bureau at:
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road (Designation: ADDEMO/FRN)
Washington, DC 20746
AROUND THE NATION
From The Redistrict Network (@RedistrictNet)
October 13: Mississippi Speaker Jason White expects Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session in November to redraw state House, Senate, Supreme Court, PSC and Highway Commission districts. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
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/
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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, Cecilia Neff, & Jason Fierman of @RedistrictNet.