New York's new requirements, which take effect this weekend, will give Attorney General Letitia James, a New York Democrat, broad authority over the state's election procedures, a New York state election lawyer said.
“Nobody's really talking about this case or what the big ramifications of this case are,” Joseph T. Burns, a partner at the law firm Holtzman Vogel and an election lawyer, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview this week. “But it's interesting because, while there's a lot that's bad in New York about elections and other things, this seems to me to be particularly egregious. And there's no question that this is a power grab by the attorney general.”
Pursuant to the New York John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, which Gov. Kathy Hockle signed into law in 2022, the law's preclearance requirements are set to go into effect on Sept. 22. Burns said the new rules require certain jurisdictions in New York state to apply for preclearance from the attorney general or a designated court to make election-related decisions, ranging from changing early voting hours to removing deceased residents from voter rolls.
Burns published an editorial Speaking to the New York Post this week, Burns warned that the new law would give James “unprecedented power over election procedures in some of the most competitive districts in the country, including Long Island and the Hudson Valley.” Burns said the new requirement had flown under the radar, telling Fox Digital, “No one's talking about it. This is pretty remarkable.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/File)
“The new rules upend the constitutionally mandated, bipartisan election administration system that has served New York State voters for generations,” Burns wrote in an op-ed published Sept. 15. “The law requires certain counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts to obtain approval from the Attorney General or a designated court before making any election-related or voting-related changes.”
The new rules cover vast jurisdictions such as New York City and nine Long Island counties (including Hempstead, the largest town in the U.S.), as well as other areas known as “covered entities” under the requirements.
Barnes said jurisdictions will be determined by several factors, including arrest rates of residents of “protected classes” and whether the jurisdiction has violated civil rights or voting rights in the past 25 years, citing a document issued by James' office last year. Rule Details.
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Burns, an expert on Republican politics and election legal issues, told Fox Digital that there are “four triggers” for classifying a jurisdiction as a “covered entity.”
(Amy Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/File)
“Any political subdivision that has been the subject of a court order or government enforcement action based on a finding of a voting-related violation of this article, the federal Voting Rights Act, the Fifteenth Amendment, or the Fourteenth Amendment within the past 25 years,” Burns said, reading from the 2023 document issued by James' office.
Barnes cited the example of Erie County being considered a “covered entity” under the new rules when the county received a 14th Amendment court order about 10 years ago.
“You think, 'Wow, this is really sinister,'” he said of the 2014 court order. “'They're probably doing something. They're disenfranchising minorities.'”
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“No, not at all. The mayor and the county council could not agree on a rezoning plan,” Burns said of the incident. “… If that were to happen, the local government would be pre-approved.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James is sitting in court in the fraud trial of former President Trump and his children. (Dave Sanders/Pool/Getty Images/File)
“This is not just bad policy, because it undermines the bipartisan nature of the Election Commission. Again, the Election Commission is not perfect, there are many inefficiencies, but generally, in this day and age when people are so concerned about the integrity of our elections, there's nothing better than both sides having a stake in the outcome, both sides wanting and needing to see that elections run smoothly and fairly. And now we have partisan elected officials stepping in and essentially having veto power over the Election Commission,” Burns said.
Under the New York State Constitution, elections are administered by a bipartisan commission that represents Republicans and Democrats equally.
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“One party monitors the other, and both parties have a vested interest in making sure elections run smoothly, even in places like New York City where one party is strongly controlled by another. It's not a perfect system, and certainly there are inefficiencies, but it does a good job of maintaining voter trust,” Burns wrote in the editorial.
“But the state elections board's preclearance rules undermine our constitutionally mandated, bipartisan election administration system,” he added.
New York State Capitol (Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images/File)
Burns said the new rules, which take effect about 40 days before the presidential election, could cause confusion in voting this year.
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“That's certainly a possibility. What if a water main bursts at an early voting site or a polling site on election day and it becomes inoperable, or a fire breaks out in that facility and it burns down? We'd have to move that facility.”
Local commissioners would then choose new polling places before submitting the application to the attorney general's office. Burns isn't arguing that the attorney general's office won't approve applications quickly, but that it would just create more paperwork and permits to hold an election.
“New Yorkers of all parties and persuasions want elections to be conducted fairly, honestly and efficiently, and the state's nonpartisan election administration system already serves voters well,” Burns said in the op-ed.
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“Our elections, and public confidence in them, will not be improved by the Attorney General's interference.”
Fox News Digital reached out to James' office about the upcoming requirements and concerns about Burns' op-ed, but did not receive a response before publication.
