The New York Court of Appeals has upheld a new state law allowing absentee ballots to be reviewed before Election Day.
The court said in its decision that it would would be “extremely disruptive” to change the rules with absentee voting already underway.
The decision from the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling that declared New York’s early review of absentee ballots unconstitutional. The appeals court said Republican and Conservative party officials who challenged the law waited too long.
The court also upheld a pandemic-era law that allows voters worried about becoming ill to vote by absentee.
In 2021 and 2022, New York state implemented voting reforms which sought to expand access to absentee ballots, ensure minor technical mistakes on ballots wouldn’t invalidate votes, and update the ballot counting process and timeline.
According to the state Board of Elections, about 552,000 absentee ballots have been sent out with more than 188,000 returned so far.
State Attorney General Letitia James said in a release, “We should be taking every step possible to empower voters and ease New Yorkers’ access to the polls. I was proud to defend New York’s absentee ballot reforms, and am happy with the decision to keep these commonsense election integrity initiatives in place.”
It was not clear if the plaintiffs would try to appeal to the state’s highest court.
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