Federal Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Constitutional Challenge to New York Election Law

  • February 10, 2011

United States District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected a motion to dismiss a case brought by ECBAWM and co-counsel CutiHecker LLP on behalf of the New York Conservative Party and the Taxpayers’ Party, as well as by co-counsel the Brennan Center for Justice on behalf of the Working Families Party. The case challenges the constitutionality of the way New York State counts so-called “double-votes,” which occur when a person votes for a candidate on more than one party line. State law presently requires that double votes be counted only for the major party (almost invariably the Republicans or the Democrats) and not for the minor parties, including the plaintiffs Conservative Party, the Taxpayers’ Party, and the Working Families Party.