Candidates Ask Federal Court to Block New York's Even Year Election Law From Applying to Their 2026 Race

August 11, 2026 - Candidates from three counties seek to run under New York's century-old odd-year framework while First Amendment challenge proceeds.

A group of local candidates from Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland counties on Monday asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York for leave to seek a preliminary injunction that would keep the Even Year Election Law ("EYEL") from applying to their 2026 races. Each was elected in November 2025, but the EYEL shortened their terms and forces them to run again in 2026 — this time on an even-year ballot alongside national and statewide contests, instead of the odd-year cycle New York has used for local elections for more than a century.

The candidates are Jennifer DeSena, John Ferretti, Mazi M. Pilip, Anthony Colavita, and Lauren Marie Wohl. The case is New York Republican State Committee, et al. v. Kosinski, et al., No. 2:25-cv-06083 (E.D.N.Y.).

"A candidate's ability to reach voters is not a courtesy the state can switch off when it becomes politically inconvenient — it is a right the Constitution guarantees," said William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and lead counsel for the Plaintiffs. "New York spent a century keeping local races on their own calendar for good reason. The Even Year Election Law throws them onto a ballot where a town supervisor competes with a presidential campaign for the same airtime and the same attention. That is a fight local candidates cannot win, and it was designed that way. We are asking the Court to step in before these candidates are forced to run under it."

BACKGROUND

Enacted in December 2023, the EYEL moves most local elections outside New York City from odd to even years, placing town and county races on the same ballot as federal and statewide contests. The Second Amended Complaint filed July 9, 2026 names the four New York State Board of Elections commissioners in their official capacities as defendants.