BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New York's Appellate Division this week temporarily paused a decision requiring state lawmakers to draw new congressional and state Legislature maps by April 11.
Erie County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Ralph Mohr said his board and others across the state are keeping their eye on the result of an appeal of that ruling.
"If new maps are drawn and the courts end up determining that they are going to be effective for the current year, the Legislature and the courts are going to have to determine by what method candidates are going to be able to qualify for the new districts," Mohr said.
The commissioner pointed out that although Judge Patrick McAllister opined on the potential need for a revised calendar, his order did not immediately call for any revisions.
"This decision only affected the drawing of the maps," Mohr said. "It didn't change any of the filing dates. It didn't change any of the requirements under the election laws to the number of signatures, so the petition process will continue along, according to the political calendar because the court decision didn't touch any of that."
He noted the legislation that proposed the current maps of record also calls for any court order holding them invalid not to go into effect until 30 days after its issuance. Lawmakers also were still working Tuesday to approve a late state budget.
"My feeling is that the Legislature will probably ignore the court order, will go according to the time scheduled that they had set out in the law and wait to see what the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals does with this lower court decision," Mohr said.
The filing period for designating petitions for candidates to get on the primary ballot is still scheduled to end Thursday. If the state Supreme Court decision is affirmed all the way to the Court of Appeals, the Legislature or court will have to adjust the schedule as necessary.
"I don't anticipate that happening. I think that any maps that are redrawn will end up affecting future years, not the current year, but we'll just have to wait and see," Mohr said.
The state BOE said ultimately if there are new maps and a revised schedule, the primaries for any statewide or local races, unaffected by the litigation, would still happen as scheduled on June 28.