This week- New Congressional Map Challenge Explainer; Litigation Report on campaign finance & voter roll litigation, Early Voting reports, Even Year Voting- Another view; Upcoming events; VRA Preclearance; Mid Decade Redistricting Tracker; Around the Nation: Ohio, Virginia, Indiana Board of Elections litigation, Stefanik Poll Challenged by Democrats;
Register Now for the November 14 Statewide Census Organizing Conference: link below
REDISTRICTING & LITIGATION
Congressional Redistricting: Williams et. al v. State Board of Elections et. al- What Happens Next
On Monday October 27, a complaint was filed in New York County State Supreme Court asking that the state legislature create a new district that includes more Black and Latino residents of Staten Island and parts of lower Manhattan.
The complaint argues that the lines for the 11th Congressional District unfairly disenfranchise Black and Latino residents under the state constitution and similar provisions of the state Voting Rights Act (VRA). The complaint points out the demographic shifts that have occurred on Staten Island since the 1980s when the district took its current form, in particular the growth of the Black and Latino populations and the relative decline of the white population, along with a history of disenfranchising minority voters.
The complaint also argues that this is an issue of first impression for New York courts because the court has not yet ruled on what precisely constitutes impermissible vote dilution under the New York constitution.
The state constitution requires New York County Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman up to two months to decide whether to order the state legislature to redraw the 11th congressional district that now includes Staten Island and GOP-friendly neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
The Manhattan part of any new district would have to include wealthy white communities that may be more in line with minority voters who live in the northern part of Staten Island. The district would be a minority “influence” district guided by provisions in the state’s VRA that were meant to apply to local governments. The plaintiffs are seeking to nullify the current map as a violation of the state constitution, but by reference, incorporate the state VRA criteria that would otherwise not apply to congressional districts. This is a novel approach and the first time this strategy has even been used in the state.
After Judge Pearlman decides the case, an appeal by a losing party could be taken to the Appellate Division. Unless Judge Pearlman decides before his deadline (in mid-December), the Appellate Division might not be able to decide on an appeal until mid-January at the earliest. After that, a final appeal could be taken to the Court of Appeals in Albany, taking the case possibly into February. If the plaintiffs prevail, the legislature would need to pass a new map before the 2026 petitioning period gets underway around February 24th. This schedule leaves very little time for all the anticipated necessary steps.
The state is required to hold the congressional primary in June 2026 to comply with the federal military overseas voting laws. Any delay in enacting a new map would result in the 2022 where petitions signed for the “old” district part of the “new district” would remain valid but only signatures from the “new” parts of the district could provide additional signatures. The 2026 congressional primary date could also be changed, but that would need approval from the Albany-based federal district court that originally set up the spring date requirement.
The 11th district is represented by Representative Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican member of Congress in New York City.
On October 31, lawyers for Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis filed a proposed intervenor motion asking Justice Pearlman for permission to intervene to oppose the arguments for a new district. Since the judge previously worked for two of the named defendants (Governor Kathy Hochul and Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins), they might ask the judge to recuse himself. If this happens and they are successful, finding a new judge could add time to the already ticking court clock.
The Malliotakis intervenors have indicated to the court that they will oppose the challenge based on several factors: 1) that the challenge is time-barred because of “laches,” or filing the case much too late; 2) that the challenge seeks unconstitutional relief because there is no constitutional requirement for minority “influence” districts; 3) that the challenge seeks a remedial map that would violate the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and 4) that the arguments fail on their own lack of merit.
As of today, the court has scheduled a hearing for the conferees to meet and discuss future action on Friday, November 7th in the New York County Courthouse.
American Future Fund, Inc. v. New York State Board of Elections
On October 28th, Judge Jennifer Rearden in the Southern District of New York denied the American Future Fund’s request for a preliminary injunction against the New York State Board of Elections. The group argued that New York’s campaign finance disclosure rules were overly broad and vague in violation of the First Amendment.
The court rejected this claim, finding that the challenged provisions fall within the permissible scope of regulation recognized under Citizens United and serve the state’s valid informational interest. The court further found no evidence of irreparable harm, like threats, reprisals, or economic retaliation against the Fund’s donors.
U.S. v. N.Y.S. Board of Elections:
The League of Women Voters of New York State Is seeking to intervene in a awsuit filed by DOJ, to protect sensitive voter information. On October 24, LWV of New York State filed a motion to intervene as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain the complete list of all registered voters in New York without proper basis and purpose. The DOJ is attempting to obtain voters’ sensitive data, including private information such as driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers, data beyond what’s typically publicly available
ELECTIONS
Record Early Voting Sets the Stage for a Historic NYC Mayoral Showdown
Early voting in New York City’s 2025 mayoral election began with a remarkable surge: 79,409 people cast ballots on the first day, followed by 84,781 more on the second, totaling over 164,190 in just two days. That turnout reflects the high stakes and intense interest surrounding this year’s three-way contest between Democrat Zohran Mamdani, Independent Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Two televised general election debates, on October 16 and October 22, offered voters a close look at how the candidates differ on policy and vision, from housing affordability and public safety to immigration, schools, and fiscal governance. The debates also featured sharp exchanges that underscored how deeply divided the city’s political landscape has become heading into November 4.
According to the New York City Board of Elections, cumulative early-voting check-ins reached 735,317 across all five boroughs by Sunday, November 2. The figure, confirmed by the Board’s public “Early Voting Check-Ins” report, aligns with independent coverage by the New York Daily News, which noted that more than 735,000 New Yorkers cast ballots during the nine-day early-voting period, placing the 2025 race on track for one of the highest local turnouts in modern city history.
Another Perspective on Even Year Voting
– from Howard Graubard
Proposition 6 purports to move the elections for all City posts (Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, Borough President and Council) to presidential years, where they would join elections for the White House, the US Senate (sometimes), the House, and the entire State Legislature.
This, it is argued, would raise turnout and save money.
The first thing to note is that the amendment would do nothing of this sort. The only way to enact such a change would be to have the state legislature pass it in both houses in two separate years and then be approved in a statewide referendum. Those voting for this because of the misguided impression they will cut the next mayor’s term to three years (an actual argument i keep encountering) are going to be sorely disappointed.
The next thing to note is that it is based upon a number of false premises.
The overwhelming majority of these city elections are resolved in primaries, and while general elections have more turnout in presidential years, because, even in non-competitive NYS, more people to come out to vote for president, this cannot be the case in primaries, because the presidential nomination calendar necessitates a different primary date for president than for other offices.
In fact, the turnout in even year primaries for state and federal offices is not notably higher turnout than it is in the odd year primaries for city offices, and this proposal would not change that.
But adding rank choice city primaries, which currently take place in years with few non-ranked choice offices up for grabs, to even years, would result in a massive and confusing ballot with a daunting number of races and choices. I can’t tell you how much time I spend answering people’s questions about the more obscure races now–there’s only so much the even the most well-informed voter can follow now; this proposal would increase such confusion exponentially, and the confusion of poll workers as well.Moreover, the longer our ballots are, the steeper will be the drop off, especially in our local races.
Switching to an every two-year cycle would likely result in the Board of Elections switching to fewer full-time employees and using more temps, which would likely not increase the efficiency of an agency which already has more than its share of problems. Most importantly, in my mind, is that our local issues and problems, which often demand less ideological, more technocratic responses, deserve to be the focus of a separate elections from those of the nation and state. I have never voted for a Republican for Mayor, but I appreciate that local circumstances have resulted in five GOP mayoral victories in the city since I moved here in 1982. These resulted from an overwhelmingly Democratic polity, at least in the context of national issues, deciding that, on purely local matters, we were in need of a course change.
Such decisions would likely become nearly impossible in an election where the focus was on the presidency, and don’t fool yourself, even though presidential candidate advertising dollars are virtually never spent on NYC, the presidency is still our focus in presidential years. Move our local elections to such years and an occasional Aegean cleaning of the stables would become almost impossible.
I do not think this is a good thing.
And yes, to disclose my conflict of interest, I am an election lawyer, and this proposal would negatively affect my ability to earn a living (and no, I could not bulk up in even years, because there are only so many clients one can reasonably handle in any season) and I am well aware of Upton Sinclair’s the adage “it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”, but I sincerely believe this is a badly misguided idea.
Howard Graubard is a New York City-based election attorney.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Friday, November 14, 2025 | 12 – 2 PM | Virtual Event
New York State Census Partnership
The road to Census 2030 starts now. Join a virtual convening that brings together experts, advocates, and partners from across New York to kick off the conversation, share key updates, and begin building the infrastructure absolutely critical for a complete and equitable count.
Register Here Today: https://nyls.wufoo.com/forms/nys-census-2030-launch/
Moderated by Sol Marie Alfonso-Jones, Sr. Program Director, The New York Community Trust, this session will include:
· An overview of what the census is, and why it matters to all New Yorkers.
· An overview of the New York State Census Partnership (NYSCP) —what we learned from 2020, how we are structuring the work now, our current priorities, what has been achieved to date, and how stakeholders can get involved.
· Why community involvement in the Census matters with Lurie Daniel Favors, Executive Director, Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College
· A look at New York’s shifting demographics and what they tell us about who and where we need to reach, with Jan Vink, Cornell University Program on Applied Demographics
· A deep dive into the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) process—what it is, why it matters, and how to prepare now, with Joe Salvo, Consultant, and Former Chief Demographer for New York City
· Key updates from the U.S. Census Bureau, presented by Meeta Anand, Leadership Conference
· A state-level perspective on what’s happening in New York from Jeff Wice, Distinguished Adjunct Professor & Senior Fellow, Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute, New York Law School, with special guests Senator Jeremy Cooney, and Assembly Members Michaelle Solages and Landon Dais.
Whether you’re a veteran of census work or just getting started, this session will equip you with critical information, past efforts, where things stand, and how to get involved as we look toward 2030. It’s not too early—now is the time to begin laying the groundwork for a fair and accurate count. It’s going to take all of us, working together, to ensure every New Yorker is seen, counted, and represented.
SOMOS Census Workshop
Thursday, November 6- A workshop on Census 2030 will be held at 3:145 PM during the SOMOS Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The workshop will take place in the El Caribe Hilton Hotel. Speakers will include representatives from the New York Law School, New York. Immigration Coalition, Asian American Federation, and other organizations.
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/
MID -DECADE REDISTRICTING TRACKER
Our partner Redistrictingonline.org has a mid-decade redistricting tracker you can use to follow action in the states. It can be accessed here:
https://redistrictingonline.org/
AROUND THE NATION
Ohio: Ohio’s seven-member Redistricting Commission voted unanimously last week to approve a new congressional map that will govern the state’s 15 U.S. House districts starting with the 2026 election cycle. The bipartisan deal preserves a GOP advantage and could shift the balance from the current 10-5 split to something closer to 12-3. Commissioners from both parties backed the plan to meet the Oct. 31 constitutional deadline and avoid sending map-drawing back to the legislature.
Why a new map was required: under Ohio’s 2018 reform (Article XIX), the 2021 congressional map was adopted without the required bipartisan supermajority, authorizing it to govern only up to the 2024 election, after which, a mandatory redraw in 2025 is required. Under these rules, the General Assembly must adopt a bipartisan map by Sept. 30 or cede map-drawing responsibility to the Commission. The legislature missed its Sept. 30 deadline, and the Commission took control as of Oct 1st.
Last week’s approval also fits into the broader mid-decade redistricting wave. While Ohio did not undertake mid-decade redistricting in response to President Trump’s call to Republican controlled states to redraw maps, the passage of this map will likely net two additional Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. This makes its enactment a key event in this unprecedented mid-decade redistricting push.
Virginia: Virginia’s House and Senate have approved a constitutional amendment that will go before the newly elected legislature in January to permit the state to redraw congressional district boundaries. Approval in both houses will be followed by a statewide vote, opening the door for a new map for the 2026 election.
Indiana: The Hoosier State’s legislature begins meeting today to consider eliminating one or two Democratic-held congressional districts.
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, Daniel Bonaventura, and Michelle Davis (from Redistrictingonline.org). A guest column by attorney Howard Graubard represents his own views.