Appeals Court Rejects GOP Challenge to New York’s No-Excuse Absentee Ballot Law

Empty envelopes of opened vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary are stacked on a table at King County Elections in Renton, Wash., on March 10, 2020. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

An appeals court has dismissed a Republican-led legal challenge that sought to declare New York’s Early Mail Voter Act, which expands absentee voting, as unconstitutional.

A panel of judges with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York issued an order on March 7, granting a motion to dismiss an appeal that was lodged by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who sought to overturn a Feb. 5 lower court decision that upheld the Early Mail Voter Act as constitutional.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed the New York Early Mail Voter Act in September, expanding the state’s absentee voting laws to allow all voters to cast their ballots by mail during the early voting period.

Prior to the enactment of the law, voters could only vote by mail under certain conditions, namely if they were going to be absent from New York City or the county, or if they were unable to vote in person due to illness or physical disability.

Legal Challenge

Ms. Stefanik, and others including the Republican National Committee (RNC), sued to block the law, arguing in their Sept. 20, 2023 complaint that the state Legislature enacted the law in violation of the New York State Constitution, which explicitly states that qualified voters must vote in person unless they'll be absent from their county or residence, or if they’re sick or disabled.

The complaint argued that, in a general election held in 2021, voters “soundly rejected” a constitutional amendment that was titled “Authorizing No-Excuse Absentee Ballot Voting” that sought to amend the state constitution by removing the conditions and allowing all qualified voters to cast ballots without having to provide any reason.

Ms. Stefanik and the other plaintiffs asked the court to declare the New York Early Mail Voter Act unconstitutional and to block its enforcement.

However, the New York Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiffs, with the Feb. 5 decision stating that they “failed to meet their heavy burden of providing beyond a reasonable doubt” that the law violated the state constitution, while declaring the law “valid and constitutional.”

In particular, the court said that the New York State Constitution doesn’t contain any express language that prohibits the state legislature from enacting laws that permit all qualifying voters to vote by mail.

Ms. Stefanik filed an appeal (pdf) on Feb. 6, prompting Ms. Hochul to file a motion to dismiss (pdf) on Feb. 7, which on March 7 was granted.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Rep. Stefanik and the RNC for comment on the dismissal of the appeal.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) speaks at a press conference following a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 16, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Republicans have raised objections to the massive expansion of vote-by-mail during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing it opens the door to fraud.

Over 43 percent of 2020 votes were cast by mail, the highest percentage in U.S. history.

Mail-In Ballot Fraud in 2020

A recent study exploring the likely impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots had in the 2020 election found that the outcome would “almost certainly” have been different without the massive expansion of absentee ballots.

The study was based on data obtained from a Heartland/Rasmussen survey conducted in December 2023, which revealed that roughly one in five mail-in voters, or 20 percent, admitted to actions that could be potentially fraudulent in the presidential election.

After the researchers carried out additional analyses of the raw data, they concluded that there was a higher percentage of fraudulent mail-in ballots. They now believe that 28.2 percent of people who voted by mail in 2020 committed at least one type of behavior that is, “under most circumstances, illegal,” and so potentially amounts to voter fraud.

A Heartland Institute research editor and research fellow who was involved in the study explained to The Epoch Times that there are narrow exceptions where a surveyed behavior may be legal, like filling out a mail-in ballot on behalf of another voter if that person is blind, illiterate, or disabled, and needs assistance.

However, research fellow Jack McPherrin said such cases were within the margin of error and not statistically significant.

The new study found that, absent the huge expansion of mail-in ballots during the pandemic, President Donald Trump would most likely have won.

Noncitizen Voting In NY Local Elections

Elsewhere, in late February, a state appeals court declared as unconstitutional a New York City law permitting noncitizen voting in local elections.

The ruling, (pdf) issued on Feb. 21, represents a victory for election integrity advocates and opponents of the legislation who mounted a legal challenge.

The law, dubbed “Our City, Our Vote,” was approved in December 2021 by the Democrat-controlled New York City Council. It opened the door to allowing some 800,000 documented noncitizens with federal work authorizations to vote in all New York City municipal elections, including for mayor.

Progressive Democrats, who championed the law, argued that it would make U.S. politics more inclusive by allowing immigrants without citizenship to vote.

Opponents of the bill, chiefly New York Republicans, vowed to take the measure to court if it were to pass, arguing that it would undermine the integrity of elections and that it unconstitutionally diluted the power of U.S. citizens’ votes.

“We will pursue every legal action to see that this dangerous law is struck down,” then-state Republican Chairman and now Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) told a press conference in December 2021, just days before the bill passed. “Besides being bad policy, it’s unconstitutional, it’s dangerous and un-American.”