BUFFALO (WBEN) - Following a public hearing on the matter Tuesday afternoon, the Erie County Board of Elections voted to appeal the federal court decision made by Judge John Sinatra last week, in which he declared Byron Brown's name must be put on the November ballot because the filing deadline adopted by the State Legislature was unconstitutional.
The following is an excerpt from the statement read by Republican Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr on his decision to vote yes to appeal:
"By taking no action and leaving the prosecution of an appeal solely to the affected candidate, the Erie County Board of Elections would be acquiescent to the public perception that this race is being conducted under two separate set of rules. I think the comments that are placed here today give that clear impression.
This is the precedent that would be set for future Boards of Elections that would give a green light to candidates with sufficient resources and financial means to challenge any date contained in the political calendar. This would be administratively untenable.
Also, to stand idle and conduct an election with perceived different rules for different candidates undermines the public confidence in the election process and eventually will erode the legitimacy of all elections.
In this extremely limited circumstance, I have come to the conclusion that the Board of Elections must take action and must appeal to preserve the rules that were enacted and that all candidates were expected, by us, to follow. Accordingly, as the only entity that has clear ability to have the lower court's decision reviewed, I vote that the Erie County Board of Elections appeal the preliminary injunction imposed upon the Board of Elections by the United States District Court for the Western District of New York."
When asked to respond to Mohr's reasoning, Zellner simply replied, "I concur."
Zellner is concerned about the demands these court proceedings will have on Board of Elections staff.
"My concern is that we have a board staff that we keep moving the goalposts for and keep telling them they have to do things this way and have until this day to do that, and that's changed a lot in the last two years," said Zellner. "This is a critical change at a last-minute juncture that is going to put a lot of people in a bad spot to rush things here, and we don't want to rush things here. We want to get it done the right way..."
Democratic nominee for mayor, India Walton, also filed an appeal Tuesday challenging both the federal and state rulings in this case.
"Any person who has watched this race would agree that (Brown) is not an independent candidate and should not be given an independent line," said Walton. "Our campaign, our legal team believes that we have legal recourse to challenge this in the appellate courts."
Another intriguing facet of these legal proceedings is that, as of right now, Mohr and Zellner don't believe there is any filing date requirement, meaning anyone can petition to get on the ballot come November.
"As the law stands right now, there is no deadline," said Mohr.
"We have had people approach us saying they're carrying petitions right now," added Zellner.
Community members who spoke at the meeting were overwhelmingly in favor of the BoE choosing to appeal, as most pointed to a missed deadline and an apparent conflict of interest as the two reasons. Read some of the comments below:
"I'm disgusted by Byron Brown thinking it's okay to bring his petition to the court at the end of August, knowing the deadline for certifying the ballot is September 17. Brown could have brought his petition to the court two months ago, but he waited so that the decision such as yours here today would be hurried...Obviously, statutory deadlines mean nothing to Byron Brown, so why not put everything off for a while? Give it all time. Should I be delinquent in paying a parking fine? I will remember to tell the parking enforcement judge that paying an increased fine for being delinquent on a parking ticket is as unconstitutional as having to abide by an election deadline."
"Even the most casual follower of Buffalo politics knows that the federal ruling in this matter was issued by a judge whose brother has a multi-million dollar interest that could substantially be affected by the outcome of this proceeding. That raises concerns of a conflict of interest under 28 U.S.C. 455b. Only a timely appeal can fix those concerns so that the public has faith in whatever the final rendering decision is."
"We don't have laws for elites and laws for the common person; we don't have laws for voters and those who have been in office for a number of years; we don't have laws for those people that are connected to individuals who may be in powerful positions. Judge Sinatra should have recused himself - he knew the dealings between his brother and the City of Buffalo; he knew the dealings that have been done between his brother and the mayor; he should have automatically recused himself."
"I think it is highly suspect that a judge with documented connections to Byron Brown has been allowed to make this ruling. If we saw this happening in another country, I think we would have a lot of opinions about whether or not this was a fair representation of law."
