UES Lawmakers Win Ballot Lawsuits In Boost To Reelection Chances

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Two incumbent Upper East Side members of the New York State Assembly may cruise to reelection after securing favorable rulings in ballot challenges this month, according to court records and reports.

New York Supreme Court Judge Carol Edmead ruled in favor of separate ballot challenges brought by State Assemblymembers Dan Quart and Rebecca Seawright last week. Edmead's rulings will restore Seawright to the ballot after removal by the city Board of Elections over a filing mistake and will remove Quart's rival for the Democratic nomination over a dispute about Koffman's New York residency.

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.

With Seawright removed from the ballot, Republican candidate Louis Puliafito was in position to flip the heavily Democratic assembly seat. In 2018, Seawright crushed Puliafito — who was running on the Reform Party line — with 96 percent of the vote.

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. Attorney Greg Soumas also argued that all the necessary documents were filed by the campaign, albeit about a week past deadline. On Friday, Seawright praised Edmead's ruling in a statement.

"I will continue to fight on behalf of all of my constituents on the Upper East Side, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island. It is time to end shameful pandemic politics," Seawright said in the statement.

Puliafito issued a statement of his own, saying: "today’s ruling from Judge Carol Edmead had nothing to do with the law, and everything to do with politics." The Republican candidate plans to appeal Edmead's ruling.

State Assembylmember Dan Quart's path to reelection was also aided by a ruling in a similar case. Young Democratic challenger Cameron Koffman was ordered to be removed from the primary election ballot over claims that his voting in Connecticut while studying at Yale bar him from qualifying as a New York resident.

"Koffman chose to vote in Connecticut. There was nothing standing in the way of him casting his ballot in New York all these years. Whether it’s convenient to his political aspirations or not, he’ll simply have to live with the consequences of his choice. As for myself, I look forward to once again earning the support of my constituents, many of whom have known me for years, and helping them emerge stronger on the other side of this terrible crisis," Quart said in a statement.

Koffman, 22, will appeal the ruling. In a statement released Friday, Koffman said he is "disappointed" in Edmead's ruling but vowed that "this election is far from over." The young challenger with connections to a real estate fortune — he's the grandson of LeFrak Organization tycoon Samuel LeFrak — is bolstered by impressive fundraising numbers.