This week- Congressional Map Challenge Briefing Schedule; Even Year Voting Challenged in Federal Court; Cheektowaga Seeks Delay in VRA challenges, How NYC Voted Mapped; Upcoming events; VRA Preclearance; GOP Sees Voter Registration Increase; Around the Nation: Maryland, Indiana, Kansas
Register Today for the Friday November 14 Statewide Census Organizing Kickoff ZOOM: link below
REDISTRICTING & LITIGATION
Congressional Redistricting: Williams et. al v. State Board of Elections et. al- What Happens Next
In this case filed recently, plaintiffs are seeking to have the 11th congressional district redrawn to remedy an alleged vote dilution claim. The district now covers Staten Island and a part of Brooklyn. Plaintiffs would replace the Brooklyn part with population in Manhattan.
Justice Jeffrey Pearlman held a status conference on Friday, November 7th. At the conference, parties agreed to a briefing schedule including the following dates:
November 17 – deadline for Petitioners’ opening brief
December 8 – deadline for Respondents’ opposition briefs and any cross-motion(s) and/or motions(s) to dismiss from Respondents and/or Intervenors
December 18 – deadline for Petitioners’ reply brief(s) and opposition briefs to any motions filed by Respondents/Intervenors
December 23 – deadline for reply brief(s) in further support of any Respondents’/Intervenors’ motions
January 6-7 – the Court will hold a hearing and take testimony from any expert witnesses
The judge also granted the Proposed Malliotakis Intervenors’ unopposed motion to intervene.
The plaintiffs maintain that the 60-day state constitutional deadlines should apply and the Court understands the importance of having a decision as soon as possible given the constitutional provision and upcoming 2026 campaign deadlines. With the upcoming holidays quickly approaching, the parties agreed to this briefing schedule with Judge Pearlman’s assurance that he would decide the case expediently after the January hearing.
The Malliotakis intervenors have not indicated that they will ask Judge Pearlman to recuse himself. However, counsel for the Republican commissioners of the Board of Elections indicated that they are considering making a motion seeking his discretionary, if not mandatory, recusal.
With petitioning for the 2026 congressional primary expected to get underway around February 24th, the briefing schedule leaves little time for a decision and for subsequent appeals to be completed in time for any new map, if plaintiffs are successful, to impact the 2026 election.
State’s Even Year Voting Law Challenged in Federal Court
In October, New York’s Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the Even Year Elections Law (EYEL), confirming that state lawmakers may shift most local elections to even years, aligning them with higher-turnout contests for federal and state offices. Though intended to bring finality, the ruling hasn’t stopped opponents of consolidation, who have mobilized to stymie the effort.
On October 31st, the New York GOP, Nassau, Suffolk, and Orange Counties, several towns, and local officials filed suit in the Eastern District of New York, alleging that the EYEL violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act. Plaintiffs are counting on federal courts—including, perhaps, the VRA-antipathetic Supreme Court majority—to block the law or permit local opt-outs.
The EYEL moves many local elections to even-numbered years to coincide with state and federal contests. This lawsuit follows a New York Court of Appeals ruling in October 2025, which upheld the law, allowing the election schedule to shift to proceed.
Plaintiffs contend that the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), by undermining local control and diluting the influence of certain voters. The plaintiffs argue that the EYEL imposes significant burdens on political speech by reducing the visibility of local messages and increasing the cost of spreading those messages. Plaintiffs also assert that information and content from national elections will have residual effects on the voters’ decision-making in local races.
According to the plaintiffs, consolidating local elections into even-year cycles expands the electorate to include a larger share of voters who are less informed about local issues and more inclined to vote along partisan and racial lines. In one of their causes of action, plaintiffs further allege that the interaction of EYEL and the continuing effects of discrimination on Black New Yorkers will result in diminished opportunities for these voters to participate meaningfully in the political process and to election representatives of their choice.
Plaintiffs are asking the court to block the law and let local governments opt out.
The 2023 change excludes offices for which odd-year cycles are constitutionally fixed—city officials, sheriffs, district attorneys, and local judges (e.g. N.Y. Const. Art. VI § 21; Art. XIII §§ 8, 13[a]). A related cleanup effort at both the City and State level would align elections for many remaining offices. That included Ballot Question 6 on New York City’s general-election ballot, proposing to move city contests to presidential years when state law permits. Led by their Mayor-elect, voters in four of five boroughs rejected it 53 to 47 percent significantly detouring the parallel State effort to move elections in all cities to even years.
Acknowledging Tuesday’s results, Senator James Skoufis, who leads the consolidation effort in Albany, will revise the proposal to exclude New York City offices when lawmakers return in January. Meanwhile, Suffolk County voters approved a ballot question (57% – 43%) delaying consolidation, though its convoluted text provoked controversy and may face a constitutional challenge from local Democrats.
Citizens Union calls odd-year elections a relic that hinders turnout and makes our electorate less representative. Supporters argue consolidation will reduce disparities and save localities millions—New York City’s IBO estimates $42 million every two years. Critics point to lengthy ballots and national narratives drowning out local issues. A more structural concern echoes the staggering of U.S. Senate terms across election cycles (U.S. Const. Art. I § 3 cl. 2), tempering passion or populism by requiring political movements to endure temporally to fully reshape government. This view placed a premium on societal stability, but it’s less evident today that it delivers social cohesiveness, rather than hyper-partisan intransigence.
State Voting Rights Act: Young v. Town of Cheektowaga (Erie)
Pending the outcome of the State Court of Appeals decision in the Town of Newburgh challenge to the state’s voting rights act, a similar challenge against a town board has been put on hold in Erie County’s Town of Cheektowaga.
In a letter to the judge hearing the Cheektowaga case, attorneys for the town send the judge a letter noting that the even year election year law was upheld by the Court of Appeals and that ” (a)s a result of the Court’s decision, elections for county and town offices, including positions on the Cheektowaga Town Board, will be held concurrently with national elections during every even-numbered year. In other words, a NYVRA remedy prescribed by the statute itself has already been implemented in the Town— even-year elections.
“Accordingly, one of the Town’s arguments in opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment remains that the Plaintiff’s NYVRA claim is not ripe until the first biennial elections for Cheektowaga Town Board are conducted.”
The town is looking to delay any claims of VRA violation against the town until after the town conducts an election under the even year election law.
ELECTIONS
New Map Tool From CUNY: How New York City Voted
The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Center for Urban Research has created an online map to display this year’s NYC mayoral election results.
The map, developed by CUNY’s John Mollenkopf and Steve Romalewski, enables a reader to review results and filter the map using one or more of 20 categories to show the results and turnout for the election districts that meet the filter criteria. You can also compare tonight’s returns with 2021 results, and display overlays showing City Council districts, NYCHA sites, and subway routes.
Access the map here:
https://www.electionatlas.nyc/maps.html#!NYCResults2025generalinteractive
You can also view a larger version of the map here https://www.urbanresearchmaps.org/electioncompare2025/ and use that version to create custom links to share and also embed the map in another website.
Here’s a thread on social media describing the map’s features, including the filter options:
The Ctr for Urban Research at @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social (led by @jomoko.bsky.social) has prepared an online map for tonight's NYC mayoral results. Link below in #thread. For now the map is blank, but it'll fill in w/unofficial returns tonight.The map will do more than show the 2025 #s. 1/n
— Steven Romalewski (@sromalewski.bsky.social) 2025-11-04T19:14:39.929Z
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.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT
N.Y. Attorney General’s Office Preclearance
901- Erie County Board of Elections- poll site change- granted
The Board was granted permission to move a poll site from the E. Clinton Public Library Branch at 1921 Clinton Street to the Autumnwood Senior Center at 1800 Clinton Street.
All submissions can be viewed at: https://nyvra-portal.ag.ny.gov/
VOTING
N.Y. Sees Shift in Party Enrollment as GOP Numbers Rise
New York’s latest voter enrollment report, released by the State Board of Elections (BOE) on November 1st, shows modest but measurable shifts in party affiliation across the state. While Democrats still account for nearly half of all registered voters, Republicans have made notable gains since 2022, especially outside New York City and in some of its outer boroughs.
According to the state data analyzed by Capitol Confidential, Republican enrollment has increased by about 97,900 voters since 2022, a 3.3 percent rise. The party gained voters in all but seven counties statewide, with particularly sharp increases in the Bronx (up 23 percent), Queens (12.9 percent), and Brooklyn (8.8 percent). Manhattan was the only borough where Republican registration declined.
The BOE enrollment data confirm this broader picture. As of November 2025, New York has roughly 13.36 million total registered voters, including 6.43 million Democrats (48.2 percent) and 2.99 million Republicans (22.4 percent). The most Republican-leaning counties are concentrated upstate: Hamilton County, where Republicans make up 56 percent of all voters, followed by Lewis (53.5 percent), Allegany (51.7 percent), Wyoming (49.6 percent), and Steuben (48.9 percent). By contrast, the most Democratic counties remain the city’s core, the Bronx (70.7 percent Democratic), New York County (70.6 percent), and Kings County (69.7 percent), with Queens at 61 percent Democratic registration.
Democratic totals have fallen over the same period. The party has lost roughly 79,000 registered voters since 2022 and another 108,000 between 2024 and 2025. The Bronx alone lost more than 28,000 Democrats during that time. Although Democrats maintain a large numerical advantage, these declines suggest shifting voter engagement and migration patterns that could subtly influence future elections.
Meanwhile, the number of voters unaffiliated with any political party continues to grow. Since 2022, more than 300,000 additional New Yorkers have registered with “no party” status, making independents the state’s second-largest voting bloc after Democrats. Analysts suggest this increase may reflect growing political independence or dissatisfaction with both major parties rather than a direct partisan realignment.
Republicans’ growth has been strongest in areas historically dominated by Democrats, such as the Bronx and Queens, where the party’s share of the electorate, though still small, has risen more rapidly than elsewhere. Whether this trend will continue remains to be seen, but it signals an increasingly competitive environment in regions once thought to be politically static.
Overall, the data depict a New York electorate that remains predominantly Democratic but is gradually diversifying in its partisan makeup. Republican registration has increased, Democratic enrollment has gone down and independent voters are steadily rising, together reshaping the state’s political balance ahead of the 2026 election cycle.
AROUND THE NATION
Maryland: Wes Moore appointed a commission to look into redrawing the state’s congressional map despite opposition by Senate President Bill Ferguson who wrote to this Senate colleagues that “”I believe that mid-cycle redistricting in Maryland twists rules for potential short-term advantage while undermining trust in institutions and ultimately, democracy, but that is not the reason we should not pursue it,” Ferguson wrote. “Simply put, it is too risky and jeopardizes Maryland’s ability to fight against the radical Trump Administration.”
Indiana: The Hoosier State’s legislature is delaying any consideration of mid-decade redistricting until at least December.
Kansas: It appears that Kansas Republicans do not have the votes to draw the state’s only House Democrat Sharice Davids from office through mid-decade redistricting according to state House Speaker Dan Hawkins said Tuesday
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 Jarret Berg.