The New York State Board of Elections is nearing a final resolution with the Justice Department in a lawsuit over this Tuesday’s special election for Kirsten Gillibrand’s former House seat, a board spokesman tells TPM.
The DOJ filed a lawsuit yesterday, complaining that the state didn’t allow enough time under federal law for overseas voters to get their ballots in. The ballots were sent out about two weeks ago, and the election is this Tuesday, while the federal government is calling for at least 30 days.
Board spokesman John Conklin informs TPM that the state is now hammering out a consent decree with the DOJ to extend the window of time for accepting overseas ballots, which under New York law are normally required to arrive by up to one week after the election. Six additional days will be added on to that window, though voters must still mail their ballots by this coming Monday.
One thing the state will not do, Conklin tells us, is make an admission of violating the law: “We’re completely in accord with our own state statutes, and the federal statute doesn’t have a specific day in it. They have an interpretation that says it has to be a period of time, but there’s nothing specific in the statute.”
One thing to look out for: If the election were to turn out to be super-close, we may be left waiting for two weeks waiting on the numbers for those ballots, as opposed to waiting one week as we might have done before.
