This week: N.Y.C. Open Primaries Supported by Adams Charter Commission; Unite NY Submits Open Primaries Question for 2027 N.Y.C. Ballot; Buffalo Commission Rejects Election Reform Efforts; N.Y.’s Challenging Redistricting Amendment; Maryland Legislature to Meet in August on Congressional Redistricting; Federal Court Reverses Voting Rights Act Decision; Around The Nation
LITIGATION
N.Y.C. Open Primaries Supported by Adams’ Charter Review Commission
Former Mayor Eric Adams convened the “zombie” NYC Charter Revision Commission on his final day in office, with its main agenda item being open primaries. On May 27, Mayor Mamdani disbanded the Commission, using new authority included in the state budget.
On Monday June 29, members of the Commission and Republican New York City City Council Member Vickie Paladino, former Governor David Paterson, and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, filed suit against the governor, mayor, the NYC Board of Elections, and the city clerk in Richmond County Supreme Court.
The lawsuit alleges that the mayor unlawfully asked Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to enact a provision used to dismantle the commission and stall the proposal for open primary elections. The plaintiffs contend that this action was unlawful because the state legislature needs formal permission from the mayor and City Council to pass the provision since it was a “special law targeting only the affairs of New York City government.”
Further, the plaintiffs argue the provision qualifies as a special law because it diminishes the power of local government, thus it would need to be passed twice in two different calendar years before going into effect.
Also, the plaintiffs allege that the mayor disbanded the commission after it was formed, depriving members of the Commission the right to serve their terms and have open primaries proposal considered by voters.
On June 30, the judge in Richmond County Supreme Court ordered respondents to show cause on July 16th.
Simultaneously on June 30, the commission filed a petition for preclearance, in New York County Supreme Court, to institute open primary local elections, which the Commission approved for placement on the November 2026 General Election ballot for NYC voters to decide. The New York State Voting Rights Act requires that all New York City election-related laws be precleared (or pre-approved) by either the state Attorney General or a state court.
On July 9, New York City Corporation Counsel Steven Banks filed a memo of law on behalf of the city, mayor, city clerk, and NYC Board of Elections, in support of
1) a joint trial consolidating the Richmond County Supreme Court lawsuit and commission’s petition for preclearance,
2) disqualification of Randy Mastro, former First Deputy Mayor and partner at Dechert LLP, as counsel for the Commission, and
3) temporary stay of deadlines.
The memo argues that
1) the Court should hold a joint trial in New York County because it is the only venue where the preclearance petition can be heard, thus there are special circumstances,
2) Mastro should be disqualified because Rule 1.11 of the Professional Code prohibits him from representing the plaintiffs because he was involved in the formation of the commission, and
3) the Court should stay the proceedings in the matter until a determination on the motions are made.
On behalf of the Commission, Mastro argues first that the cases should not be consolidated because they deal with different parties and legal issues, and material events relating to the June 29 litigation took place in Richmond County.
Second, the plaintiffs argue Mastro should not be disqualified because he sought and received advice from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, is pro bono counsel to the Commission, has been representing the Commission for several months since he left City Hall, and is not in possession of confidential information related to the Commission.
Third, the plaintiffs argue that the issue is timely because the Commission’s ballot proposal must be transmitted by August 3 to the City Board of Elections to appear on the ballot in November.
On July 10, the judge in New York County Supreme Court set a hearing for the plaintiffs to show cause on July 16th about the issues of a joint trial and disqualifying Mastro and Dechert LLP as counsel.
ELECTIONS
Unite NY Submits N.Y.C. Open Primary Ballot Question for 2027 Voter Approval
Unite NY recently submitted over 45,000 petition signatures to the city clerk’s office to place a ballot question before voters that would give voters the choice open New York’s closed primary system for city elections. Under current law, only voters registered in a party holding a primary are allowed to participate.
Under the proposal, candidates for city office would run in a June primary where all registered voters would be able to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. The top three candidates would advance to the November general election that also uses ranked-choice voting.
The ballot question needs to be approved by the City Council or Unite NY would need to obtain additional signatures.
An open primary system would permit over 1.1 million city voters who are not registered with any party — including many young voters and people of color to participate in primaries.
In the open primary, voters would be able to rank up to five candidates and the top three finishers would advance to the general election.
In an article by Brigid Bergin in The Gothamist, Unite NY’s Anthony Thomas said that “ We think that particularly when you look at what’s happening around the country with voter disenfranchisement, it’s a fundamental civil rights issue,” adding that “we pursued this through a good old-fashioned canvas and organizing effort because we wanted to go directly to New Yorkers.”
The petition process permits supporters to avoid the Charter Revision Commission process. Former Mayor Eric Adams appointed a charter commission on the last afternoon in his term of office on December 31st, 2025. That commission, referred to as the “Zombie” Commission, has also met and is submitting another open primaries ballot proposal to the city clerk. The Adams commission was terminated by Mayor Zohran Mamdani pursuant to a newly enacted state law giving him the power to do so.
While the Unite NY proposal moves forward, the Adams Commission is under attack for acting as a city entity without authority. The Adams commissioners have asked the State Supreme Court in Richmond County to permit it to move forward and is asking a Manhattan State Supreme Court judge to provide preclearance for the measure as required by state’s Voting Rights Act. More detail on the litigation matters follows below.
In the meantime, Mayor Mamdani has come out in opposition to a change to open primaries, arguing that ““I am quite content with the system of primaries that we have thus far,” Mamdani said. “I think that we’ve seen it’s a system that’s been in effect for quite some time, and it’s also a system that doesn’t preclude greater participation.”
For more background on how charter revision commissions work see this “explainer” provided by Citizens Union: https://bit.ly/3TbsR8L
Buffalo Charter Revision Commission Rejects Election Reform Effort
A Buffalo Charter Revision Commission has rejected a proposal that would have permitted voters to consider semi-open primaries, ranked choice voting, and expanded November ballot access. In Buffalo, Unite NY submitted around 500 petition signatures asking Mayor Sean Ryan and the city’s Common Council to have the commission advance the proposals that eventually failed to move forward.
According to Unite NY polling data:
80% of Buffalo voters support a ballot question to permit voters to decide whether to adopt election reforms.
67% of voters support open primaries
67% support reducing the number of signatures needed to independent candidates to get on the city ballot, and
50% of voters support ranked choice voting
REDISTRICTING
New York’s Challenging 2027 Redistricting Amendment
Writing in Politico NY, Bill Mahoney says that “There might be more voters in the upstate city of Utica than in the sprawling borough of Manhattan,” adding that “There will be almost nothing else on the ballot next year driving turnout in New York City. The state’s top races will be county executive contests in places like Erie, Onondaga and Suffolk. These purple counties will not give Democrats the built-in turnout advantage they usually enjoy in the blue state.”
Mahoney looks at how there will be few local races up for election in 2027 following the state’s move to electing local officials in even years. Democrats will need to convince voters that it is worth their effort to go out and vote in an election where few candidates will also be appearing on the ballot.
Democratic Party leaders will need to convince voters to support a mid-decade redistricting effort (along with other redistricting reforms), leading Assembly Carl Heastie to tell Mahoney that “o you think what they did in Texas was fair and fine?’ I think they’d be alarmed,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said about the recent Siena poll. “And if you follow up the question and say ‘Do you think New York should also be in a position to respond to what is happening so that one party doesn’t just take over the country for forever?’ … That’s how you have to start to inform voters as to why it’s important.”
Mahoney’s article can be read here: https://bit.ly/3RdT6ee
Depending on the outcome of efforts this year to place an open primary question on the ballot in New York City, the open primary question could also face city voters in 2027, providing more impetus for voters to turn out in what might be otherwise a slow election season.
Maryland Officials Announce Special Session on Redistricting in August
Maryland became the latest state following New York to consider a measure to permit mid-decade congressional redistricting in 2028.
On Wednesday, July 8, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson jointly announced that the Maryland General Assembly will convene for a special session August 3rd through 5th to consider placing a constitutional amendment regarding congressional redistricting on the November ballot. This marks a significant reversal for Ferguson, who earlier this year refused to allow a Senate vote on the House-passed redistricting map that would have eliminated the state’s sole Republican-held congressional seat. Ferguson said this time the approach is different: “After recent court decisions weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and created new uncertainty around congressional redistricting, Maryland needs a clear legal path forward.”
The special session will debate a proposed ballot question to establish redistricting standards in the state constitution. If approved by a three-fifths vote in both chambers, the referendum will appear on the November ballot. The announcement did not provide details on the specific language of the ballot question. If voters approve the amendment in November, a new map could take effect for 2028.
8th Circuit Reverses Its Ruling on Native American Minority District Post Callais
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Tuesday, July 7, to reverse a 2023 legal victory by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Nation, in which a federal district court judge had concluded that North Dakota’s state legislative map unlawfully diluted Native American voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The case has a long procedural history. In 2023, the U.S. District Court sided with the tribes and ordered a remedial map, which was used in the 2024 elections, resulting in three tribal members being elected to the state legislature from District 9 for the first time in over 30 years. The Eighth Circuit then ruled that private plaintiffs cannot bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the VRA at all, a sweeping holding that would have applied across all seven states in the circuit (Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota). The Supreme Court blocked that ruling in July 2025 and, on May 18, 2026, vacated the Eighth Circuit’s decision, sending it back for reconsideration in light of Callais.
On remand, the Eighth Circuit applied the new Callais standard and reversed the tribes’ victory, finding that the district court’s original findings no longer hold under the heightened evidentiary standard established by Callais. Justice Jackson, the lone dissenter in the May 18 SCOTUS order, had warned this would happen, writing that she saw “no basis for vacating” the Eighth Circuit’s ruling because Callais did not address the private right-of-action question that was central to the case.
This is significant for two reasons. First, it affects state legislative maps, not congressional districts. Second, the practical consequence is significant: the three tribal members elected in 2024 under the remedial map could lose their seats if the original gerrymandered map is restored for 2026. The case is Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Jaeger, and will now return to the district court.
N.Y. VOTING RIGHTS ACT PRECLEARANCE
N.Y. Attorney General’s Office Preclearance
No preclearance activity was posted last week by the Attorney General’s office.
All submissions can be viewed at: https://nyvra-portal.ag.ny.gov/
AROUND THE NATION
From The Redistrict Network (@RedistrictNet)
June 29: The Colorado Supreme Court has blocked all attempts to redraw congressional district boundaries for the 2028 election from reaching the ballot, concluding that each of the proposed ballot measures violates the constitutional single-subject requirement. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
June 29: Wisconsin Supreme Court sets oral arguments for Sept. 16 in a pair of congressional redistricting lawsuits that seek to redraw the state’s boundaries.
Two separate three-judge panels dismissed the lawsuits. The appeals attempt to revive them for potential trials. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
June 1: The Problem Solvers Caucus has unveiled a bipartisan Gerrymandering Reform Framework to address congressional redistricting nationally. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
July 6: NJ Gov. Mikie Sherrill (@GovSherrillNJ) has signed the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
July 7: Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk today announced that the Maryland General Assembly will convene in a special session from August 3-5, 2026 to consider legislation proposing a constitutional amendment regarding congressional redistricting. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
July 8: The Eighth Circuit has vacated the district court’s ruling on North Dakota’s legislative map.
The case is remanded for further proceedings in light of Callais, which overhauled the Gingles framework used to assess Section 2 vote-dilution claims. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
July 9: The Utah Supreme Court will hear arguments in September 2026 over whether the Republican Legislature’s creation of a three-judge panel to hear the Utah congressional redistricting lawsuit is unconstitutional. — @RedistrictNet [from X]
July 11: Daily District is a new project from Prof. Jonathan Cervas (CMU) and @Redistrictnet. Name all 435 U.S. House districts from their shape. Dropping imminently! — @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 & Michelle Davis of Redistricting Online & Jason Fierman of @RedistrictNet.