UES Assembly Challenger Restored To Ballot By Appeals Court

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Legal battles over this year's elections for the Upper East Side's two assembly seats took another step forward Thursday when the state appellate judges ruled to restore a young Democratic challenger to the ballot and securing a longtime incumbent's position on the ballot despite her campaign blowing past filing deadlines.

Cameron Koffman, a 22-year-old running for the Democratic nomination for the 73rd State Assembly District, will be allowed to run in the June 23 primary election, the First Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Koffman was appealing a decision made last week by Supreme Court Judge Carol Edmead that ruled his voting in Connecticut while studying at Yale violated New York State residency requirements.

Incumbent State Assemblymember Dan Quart, who has served the 73rd Assembly District since 2011, filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in late March alleging that Koffman should be removed from the ballot. New York State election rules require that candidates be state residents for five continuous years prior to an election. Koffman used his Yale dorm to register to vote in Connecticut and voted in elections in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Despite his voting record in Connecticut, the appeals court ruled that the state did not require Koffman to renounce residency in New York in order to register to vote. Since Koffman maintained his East 72nd Street family residence as his permanent address, he did not break the "chain of residency" required to run in New York elections.

"Under the circumstances here, where there was ample proof that Koffman was a New York resident and that Koffman’s presence in Connecticut as a college student was temporary together with the fact that he was not required under Connecticut law to renounce any voter registration in another state... petitioner fell short of meeting his burden by clear and convincing evidence that respondent does not meet the residency requirement of the NY Constitution," the ruling reads.

Koffman's campaign issued a statement Thursday saying the court's ruling is "a win for tens of thousands of students.

"We’re back on the ballot, and the race for the 73rd district continues. We were shocked by our Assemblymember’s decision to clog up the courts during Coronavirus with a frivolous legal action designed to disenfranchise students. Thankfully, the First Department recognized Cameron’s lifelong NY residency and put us back on the ballot today," the statement reads.

The 73rd State Assembly District spans most of the Upper East Side west of Third Avenue and portions of the East Midtown, Murray Hill and Sutton Place neighborhoods.

"The decision to reinstate Cameron Koffman despite his lengthy voting record in Connecticut is the wrong one. It sends a simple but clear message: if you’re wealthy and well-connected, you can bend the law to your will. We will be appealing this decision and we expect the state’s highest court to affirm Judge Edmead’s ruling," Quart said in a statement.

The ballot status of incumbent State Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright of Assembly District 76 — which spans most of the Upper East Side east of Third Avenue — was also bolstered by the First Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday. This time, the court ruled to uphold Edmead's ruling restoring Seawright to the ballot.

An appeal of Edmead's ruling was filed by Seawright's Republican opponent Louis Puliafito.

City Board of Elections commissioners voted unanimously in April to remove Seawright from Democratic and Working Families Party lines after her campaign failed to file cover sheets with her petitions and for failing to file the documents by the proper deadlines. Deadlines to file petitions were moved up by an executive order passed in March by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The order also reduced the number of petition signatures needed for candidates to qualify.

Lawyers for Seawright argued that she should not have been removed from the ballot because the lawmakers suffered coronavirus symptoms — but was not actually diagnosed with the deadly virus — in March. Appellate judges agreed with the arguments in Thursday's ruling.

"We hold that under the unique circumstances existing in New York City during the past few months, and the specific health challenges alleged here, the belated filing of these specific documents is not a fatal defect," Thursday's ruling reads.

New York's primary election for state assembly races will be held June 23.