Differing judicial rulings cause chaos in 26th District
Arcara stays state decision granting Kryzan Working Families ballot slot
A federal judge plunged the race for Congress in the 26th District into chaos late Friday, issuing an order upending a state court mandate to put Democrat Alice Kryzan on the Working Families Party line.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara issued the temporary restraining order, sources close to the Kryzan campaign and that of her opponent, Republican Chris Lee, said.
While details of Arcara’s actions were unclear, they instantly reversed the plans of boards of elections in the seven counties that include parts of the 26th District.
Arcara’s order capped a topsy-turvy 24 hours of legal action that started with a state appellate court ruling removing Jon Powers, Kryzan’s former rival for the Democratic nomination, from the Working Families Party line.
The State Court of Appeals later let that ruling stand — but then the State Republican Party filed suit in federal court to try to reverse the state court decisions.
The battle over the third-party line is significant because Powers garnered 36 percent of the vote in the September Democratic primary — and if he is barred from the ballot, those voters wouldn’t see the Iraq War veteran’s name on the ballot. In addition, voters turned off by the sharply negative campaign between Kryzan and Lee wouldn’t be able to cast a protest vote for Powers.
Kryzan and Lee campaign officials said they had not seen the details of Arcara’s decision and could not comment on it.
Earlier in the day, though, it appeared that both the Kryzan campaign and the Working Families Party had gotten just what they wanted — and they reacted accordingly.
“Alice is proud to have the support of the Working Families Party, of Jon Powers and of voters across this district who want a new direction for Western New York’s economy,” said Kryzan spokeswoman Anne Wadsworth, who derided “Chris Lee and the Republican machine’s attempts to block Alice’s name from appearing on the Working Families Party ballot line.”
Sam Williams, co-chairman of the Working Families Party, said: “We’re ecstatic. . . . Now Western New Yorkers can cast a vote for real progressive change by pulling the Working Families lever for Alice.”
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled late Thursday that a lower court erred in deciding that Powers must stay on the Working Families line even though he had moved to Washington, D.C., to take a job there.
Powers, after losing the primary, endorsed Kryzan and wanted his name taken off the Working Families line.
Following the Appellate Division ruling Thursday, the Lee campaign quickly took its case to the State Court of Appeals, but New York Chief Judge Judith Kaye declined to consider the appeal, said Gary Spencer, a Court of Appeals spokesman.
By declining to hear the case, the Court of Appeals let the Appellate Division ruling stand.
Before Arcara’s late-night decision, officials in the sprawling 26th District — which stretches from Amherst eastward to the Rochester suburbs and includes all or part of seven counties — were ready to begin k putting Kryzan on the Working Families line.
“I’m pretty sure we will be able to comply with the ruling,” said Ralph M. Mohr, the Republican election commissioner in Erie County.
But making such a sudden last-minute ballot change would not be easy.
Before Arcara’s decision, Dennis E. Ward, Mohr’s Democratic counterpart, said election officials would spend the weekend affixing Kryzan’s name to voting machines and reprogramming machines for the handicapped.
In addition, affidavit and emergency ballots — which are used when voters are accidentally left off voting rolls and when voting machines break down — were set to be reprinted.
Giving Kryzan the Working Families Party line could be much more difficult in the district’s other counties, where the voting machines for the handicapped are managed by contractors.
“It’s going to be a nightmare,” said Scott P. Kiedrowski, the Republican election commissioner in Niagara County.
