UES Incumbent Removed From Ballot By New York's Highest Court

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — New York's highest court ruled against incumbent Upper East Side State Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright, removing her from the Democratic and Working Families Party ballot lines in this year's upcoming election, according to court records.

The New York Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Seawright's bout with "COVID symptoms" does not excuse her campaign from missing deadlines for documents such as a cover sheet and certificate of acceptance. The ruling was a reversal of a ruling by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court which restored Seawright to the ballot after the city Board of Elections removed her in April.

Thursday's ruling states that "the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly presented uniquely challenging circumstances," but affirms that campaign filing deadlines must be met by candidates who wish to qualify for the ballot.

"Nonetheless, as in our prior cases, we remain constrained by the express directive

of the Election Law: the complete failure to file, by the applicable deadline, either a cover
sheet with a designating petition or a certificate of acceptance constitutes a 'fatal defect,'" the ruling reads.

Two Court of Appeals judges wrote dissenting opinions for Seawright's case Thursday. Associates Justice Jenny Rivera's opinion stated that Seawright filed her petitions within the state's truncated filing deadline, but was only missing the cover sheet and certificate of acceptance. Those documents were filed following Seawright's quarantine due to coronavirus symptoms — Seawright never had a test confirm her positive for the virus — but were filed within the original deadlines.

Filing petitions for this year's elections 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 for the ballot.

Seawright was running unopposed on the Democrat and Working Families party lines, which means that Republican challenger Louis Puliafito will not face opposition from the parties in a general election. Cuomo's executive order also bars candidates from running on independent party lines, which could be a possible roadblock for Seawright.

Seawright, who was first elected to represent the 76th District in the State Assembly in 2014, defeated Puliafito in a landslide in the 2018 general election for the seat. Seawright won with 96 percent of the vote in the Democrat-heavy district that spans most of the Upper East Side located east of Third Avenue.

The incumbent lawmaker told the New York Post that her campaign is "taking all necessary steps to avail ourselves of our legal right to run for re-election on an independent line" and compared Republican efforts to knock her off the ballot to "a Soviet Union-style election."