A state appellate court unanimously ruled Thursday that Upper East Side Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright should not be booted from the Democratic and Working Families parties ballot lines just because she failed to file a cover sheet with her paperwork amid a pandemic.
The decision by the Appellate Division First Department backs the recent decision of Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Carol Edmead, who reversed an act by the city Board of Elections, which knocked Seawright from the ballot lines for failing to file timely cover sheets for her Democratic Party petitions and her WFP submission.
Seawright said she was sick with a coronavirus-like viral infection during the petition filing period that was condensed to help contain the outbreak.
Lawrence Mandelker, the lawyer for Republican challenger Louis Puliafito, a residential doorman, said he has filed a motion to take the case to the state’s highest tribunal, the Court of Appeals.
“These election law proceedings involve the belated filing of a cover sheet and a certificate of acceptance where the delay in filing is attributable to illness or quarantine because of the current COVID-19 pandemic. 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,” said the 4-0 state Appellate court ruling penned by presiding justice Rolando Acosta.
“In so holding, we note that no challenge has been presented to the number of signatures in the designating petitions and no claim of fraud has been alleged. Indeed, there is no evidence of specific actual prejudice presented. Although respondent Board of Elections contends that a cover sheet is necessary for administrative convenience, that cannot outweigh the right to ballot access in the current unique circumstances,” the ruling said.
“In other contexts, courts have recently recognized the difficulties presented by the pandemic and the need to suspend deadlines in light of the health crisis.”
Puliafio, 62, had a good shot of claiming the seat for the GOP after the elections board knocked Seawright off the Democratic and WFP lines. But Seawright, a popular three-term incumbent, will likely breeze to re-election if she keeps the ballot lines.
“The courts protected the voters of the Upper East Side, Yorkville and Roosevelt Island from being deprived of their right to choose,” said Assemblymember Seawright. “I will continue to vigorously fight for my constituents every day, bringing meals to our senior citizens, medical supplies to our heroic first responders, assistance to our tenants and small businesses, and needed resources from Albany. We will never be intimidated by those who put pandemic politics above the interests of justice.”