Source: https://casetext.com/case/stewart-v-bd-of-elections
Timestamp: 2020-07-09 05:17:28
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Stewart v. Bd. of Elections, 14 N.Y.3d 139 | Casetext Search + Citator
ed presumptive evidence of the Lake Huntington voters' residence for voting purposes; thus, petitioner was…
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Full title:In the Matter of ROBERT T. STEWART, a Candidate for the Public Office of…
924 N.E.2d 812 (N.Y. 2010)
924 N.E.2d 812
897 N.Y.S.2d 704
finding that judicial estoppel was inapplicable where it was not clear on the record whether the trial court adopted the party's initial position
Summary of this case from Divine Capital, L.L.C. v. Legado Inv. Grp., L.L.C.
APPEALS from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department, entered January 12, 2010. The Appellate Division, with two Justices dissenting in part, (1) modified, on the law, an order of the Supreme Court, Chautauqua County (James H. Dillon, J.), which, in consolidated proceedings pursuant to Election Law article 16, had, among other things, directed that the J.K. affidavit ballot be counted, that two absentee ballots be counted and that two unscanned optical scan ballots from the Town of Poland poll site not be counted; (2) dismissed the cross appeal taken by petitioner Leon H. Beightol from the order, insofar as it directed the opening of the two absentee ballots; and (3) directed respondent Chautauqua County Board of Elections not to count the J.K. affidavit ballot and to count the two unread optical scan ballots from the Town of Poland. The modification consisted of vacating the first ordering paragraph and invalidating the J.K. affidavit ballot and vacating the fourth ordering paragraph and validating the two unread optical scan ballots from the Town of Poland. The Appellate Division affirmed the order as modified.
Matter of Stewart v Chautauqua County Bd. of Elections, 69 AD3d 1298, affirmed.
Fessenden, Laumer DeAngelo, Jamestown ( Charles S. DeAngelo of counsel), for Leon H. Beightol, appellant. I. The two absentee ballots were the product of an improper procedure that culminated in the return of an application that served to unquestionably identify the voter. ( Matter of Gross v Albany County Bd. of Elections, 3 NY3d 251; Matter of Altimari v Meisser, 15 NY2d 686.) II. The court should not validate unscannable ballots. III. J.K. was qualified to vote from the Town of Ellington residence. ( Matter of Hosley v Curry, 85 NY2d 447, 1033; People v O'Hara, 96 NY2d 378; Matter of Willkie v Delaware County Bd. of Elections, 55 AD3d 1088; Matter of Fingar v Martin, 68 AD3d 1435; Friedman v State of New York, 67 NY2d 271; Matter of Johnson v Simpson, 43 AD3d 478; Matter of Gallagher v Dinkins, 41 AD2d 946; Matter of Bressler v Holt-Harris, 37 AD2d 898, 30 NY2d 529; Matter of Geller v Lasher, 196 AD2d 613; Matter of Umland v Board of Elections of City of N.Y., 143 AD2d 240.)
Law Offices of Michael Robert Cerrie, Dunkirk ( Michael Robert Cerrie of counsel), for Norman E. Green, appellant. I. The Appellate Division incorrectly determined that the optical scanned ballots in question should be counted. ( Matter of Alessio v Carey, 49 AD3d 1147, 10 NY3d 803; Matter of Gross v Albany County Bd. of Elections, 3 NY3d 251; Matter of Staber v Fidler, 65 NY2d 529.) II. The Appellate Division incorrectly determined that J.K. was unable to vote in the district in question. ( Matter of Willkie v Delaware County Bd. of Elections, 55 AD3d 1088; Matter of Fingar v Martin, 68 AD3d 1435; Matter of Isabella v Hotaling, 207 AD2d 648, 84 NY2d 801; Matter of Ferguson v McNab, 60 NY2d 598; People v O'Hara, 96 NY2d 378; Matter of Gallagher v Dinkins, 41 AD2d 946, 32 NY2d 839; Matter of Stavisky v Koo, 54 AD3d 432; Matter of Fernandez v Monegro, 10 AD3d 429; Matter of Carney v Davignon, 289 AD2d 1096.) III. The Appellate Division improperly permitted absentee ballots to be counted despite the presence of extraneous identifying material. ( People ex rel. Brown v Keller, 170 App Div 324, 216 NY 741; Matter of Alessio v Carey, 49 AD3d 1147, 10 NY3d 803.)
Goodell Rankin, Jamestown ( Andrew W. Goodell of counsel), for Brian Abram, respondent. I. A party cannot appeal their own victory. ( Roth v Michelson, 55 NY2d 278; Town of Massena v Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 45 NY2d 482; Matter of Brown v Starkweather, 197 AD2d 840, 82 NY2d 653; Matter of Harry Y., 62 AD3d 892; DiMare v O'Rourke, 35 AD3d 346; Matter of Martin v C. A. Prods. Co., 8 NY2d 226; Matter of Hartsdale Fire Dist. v Eastland Constr., Inc., 65 AD3d 1345; Maas v Cornell Univ., 253 AD2d 1, 94 NY2d 87.) II. A party must raise known objections to a ballot before it is counted. ( Matter of Gross v Albany County Bd. of Elections, 3 NY3d 251; Sheils v Flynn, 275 NY 446; Matter of Stevenson v Power, 27 NY2d 152; People v Buckley, 75 NY2d 843; People v Cook, 286 AD2d 917, 97 NY2d 680; People v Klavoon, 207 AD2d 979, 84 NY2d 908; People v Thompson, 59 AD3d 1115; Matter of City of Utica v Town of Frankfort, 10 NY3d 128.) III. The inclusion of the application in the same envelope as the ballot does not invalidate the ballot. ( Cahen v Boyland, 1 NY2d 8; Matter of Altimari v Meisser, 22 AD2d 933, 15 NY2d 686, 847, 854; Matter of Pavlic v Haley, 40 Misc 2d 975, 20 AD2d 592, 13 NY2d 1111; People ex rel. Brown v Keller, 170 App Div 324, 216 NY 741; People v O'Hara, 96 NY2d 378; Matter of Palla v Suffolk County Bd. of Elections, 31 NY2d 36; Matter of Graziano v County of Alba N.Y., 3 NY3d 475; Matter of Ferguson v McNab, 60 NY2d 598; Matter of Isabella v Hotaling, 207 AD2d 648, 84 NY2d 801; Friedman v State of New York, 67 NY2d 271.)
Michael J. Sullivan, Fredonia, for Robert T. Stewart, respondent. I. The optical scan ballots left by voters at the optical scan machine should be counted since the voters' intent was clear and the chain of custody of the ballot was preserved. ( Bingham v New York City Tr. Auth., 99 NY2d 355.) II. The ballot of J.K. was improperly counted, as she was not a resident qualified to vote in the Town of Ellington on November 3, 2009. ( Palla v Suffolk County Bd. of Elections, 38 AD2d 84, 30 NY2d 481, 31 NY2d 36; People v O'Hara, 96 NY2d 378; Matter of Willkie v Delaware County Bd. of Elections, 55 AD3d 1088; Matter of Hosley v Curry, 85 NY2d 447; Matter of Markowitz v Gumbs, 122 AD2d 906; Matter of Fernandez v Monegro, 10 AD3d 429; Matter of Carney v Davignon, 289 AD2d 1096; Matter of Altimari v Meisser, 45 Misc 2d 1008, 23 AD2d 865, 16 NY2d 629.) III. Two absentee ballots cast and canvassed on November 30, 2009 should be counted. ( Matter of Gross v Albany County Bd. of Elections, 3 NY3d 251; People ex rel. Brown v Keller, 170 App Div 324, 216 NY 741; Parochial Bus Sys. v Board of Educ. of City of N.Y., 60 NY2d 539.)
Before: Chief Judge LIPPMAN and Judges CIPARICK, GRAFFEO, READ, SMITH, PIGOTT and JONES concur in per curiam opinion.
As relevant here, Stewart appealed from so much of Supreme Court's order as directed the Board of Elections to count J.K.'s affidavit ballot and invalidated the Board of Elections' hand count of the two optical scan ballots. Beightol cross-appealed from so much of Supreme Court's order as directed the "opening and counting" of the two absentee ballots.
The Appellate Division, with two Justices dissenting in part, dismissed Beightol's cross appeal from Supreme Court's order "insofar as it directed the opening of the two absentee ballots," modified the order, on the law, by invalidating J.K.'s affidavit ballot and validating the two optical scan ballots, and, as modified, affirmed ( see Matter of Stewart v Chautauqua County Bd. of Elections, 69 AD3d 1298, 1299 [4th Dept 2010]). The Appellate Division majority agreed with Supreme Court's factual findings on the issue of J.K.'s residency but held, as a matter of law, that J.K. resided at an address outside the voting district. With respect to the optical scan ballots, the court, relying on 9 NYCRR 6210.13 (A) (11), concluded that the ballots were not "abandoned" within the meaning of that regulation and were properly counted during the Board of Elections' hand count.
As to the two absentee ballots, the court first characterized Beightol's cross appeal as "contend[ing] . . . that [Supreme C]ourt erred in ordering that the two absentee ballots . . . be opened" ( id. at 1302). Because the Appellate Division determined that Beightol had previously sought to have the absentee ballots opened, and Supreme Court had ordered the Board to open the ballots, the Appellate Division concluded that Beightol was not aggrieved by that part of Supreme Court's order. The court further determined that Beightol was judicially estopped from taking the position in his two proceedings and on appeal that the absentee ballots should not be counted because that position was "contrary to his position in the proceeding commenced by Stewart" ( id. at 1303). Finally, the court rejected Beightol's argument that extrinsic materials included with the absentee ballots invalidated those ballots. After the Appellate Division decision, Stewart led by three votes.
Beightol appealed as of right, pursuant to CPLR 5601 (a), from the Appellate Division order of modification, and we now affirm.
We denied Beightol's motion for leave to appeal as unnecessary and granted his motion for a stay of enforcement of the Appellate Division order ( see 14 NY3d ___, 2010 NY Slip Op 63030 [2010]).
Each of the three proceedings named as respondents, in addition to the opposing candidate, the Board of Elections, Brian Abram, the Republican member of the Board, and Norman Green, the Democratic member of the Board. At Supreme Court and on appeal, the Republican member of the Board asserted arguments identical to Stewart's position; the Democratic member of the Board asserted arguments identical to Beightol's position. Green sought leave to appeal and appealed as of right from the Appellate Division order. Assuming without deciding that Green has standing to appeal without Abram's permission ( see Matter of Graziano v County of Albany, 3 NY3d 475 [2004]), our holdings with respect to Beightol's arguments apply equally to Green's arguments.
Election Law § 1-104 (22) defines "residence" as "that place where a person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home and to which he [or she], wherever temporarily located, always intends to return." To be a resident of a place within the meaning of the Election Law, we have held that "a person must be physically present with the intent to remain for a time" ( People v O'Hara, 96 NY2d 378, 384, citing Matter of Palla v Suffolk County Bd. of Elections, 31 NY2d 36, 47). While a voter may have more than one "bona fide residence," he or she may not "create an address" merely to "circumvent[] residency requirements" ( id. at 384, 385 [citations omitted]). In O'Hara, we explained:
"[A]n individual having two residences may choose one to which [he or] she has `legitimate, significant
and continuing attachments as [his or] her residence for purposes of the Election Law.' Generally, where there is no reason to assume that a residence has been asserted merely for the purposes of voting, where no fraud or deception has been practiced and where there is a history of the residence employed, the courts have upheld a fact-finder's determination of residency" ( 96 NY2d at 385, quoting Matter of Ferguson v McNab, 60 NY2d 598, 600 [1983]; see also Matter of Gallagher v Dinkins, 41 AD2d 946, 947 [2d Dept 1973], affd 32 NY2d 839 [1973]).
Chautauqua County was one of several counties statewide that used new optical scan voting machines for the first time in the November 2009 general election in conformance with federal mandates. Under this system, the voter completes a paper ballot in a privacy booth by using a pen or pencil to identify the chosen candidates. The voter then brings the ballot to an optical scan machine and the ballot is fed into the device, which "reads" the document and records the vote. The technology is not foolproof, however, and the machine is sometimes unable to record the votes identified on the ballot for various reasons, including deviation by the voter from the recommended manner of marking the boxes on the form, causing some ballots to be rejected by the machine as unreadable.
We agree with the Appellate Division that the Board of Elections properly hand-counted the two unscanned optical scan ballots. The applicable regulation, which "appl[ies] in determining whether a ballot has been properly voted and whether a vote should be counted," provides: "If a voter leaves the voting machine or system without casting their ballot, a bipartisan team of election inspectors shall cause the ballot to be cast as the voter left it, without examining the ballot" ( 9 NYCRR 6210.13 [A] [11] [a]). If the voter leaves a ballot "in a privacy booth" without casting the ballot, the ballot is spoiled ( 9 NYCRR 6210.13 [A] [11] [b]). But, if a ballot is "non-machine processable as submitted by the voter, [it] shall be manually counted by a bipartisan team of election inspectors and such vote totals shall be added to the canvass" ( 9 NYCRR 6210.13 [A] [8]).
"A vote for any candidate or ballot measure shall not be rejected solely because the voter failed to follow instructions for marking the ballot . . .
"A mark is considered valid when it is clear that it represents the voter's choice and is the technique consistently used by the voter to indicate his or her selections. Such marks may include, but are not limited to, properly filled in voting position targets, cross mark `X', a checkmark `[Checkmark]', circles, completed open arrow `[Left Pointing Arrow]', or any other clear indication of the voter's choice" ( 9 NYCRR 6210.13 [A] [2], [3]).
As a preliminary matter, we agree with the Appellate Division that Beightol was not aggrieved by so much of Supreme Court's determination as directed the opening of the absentee ballot envelopes. In the first proceeding, Stewart sought a determination that the two absentee ballot envelopes should not be opened or the ballots counted. In response, Beightol argued that the ballot envelopes should be opened. Given that Supreme Court ordered the ballot envelopes opened, Beightol is not aggrieved by that part of the determination. He is aggrieved, however, by so much of the order as directed that the ballots be counted, and we therefore consider his objections to that ruling.
Beightol was not judicially estopped from adopting the position that the absentee ballots were invalid. We note that Stewart, like Beightol, adopted a different position once the absentee ballot envelopes were opened, in both the first proceeding and in the subsequent proceedings; Stewart can hardly assert that he was prejudiced when Beightol merely adopted Stewart's original position ( see generally Shepardson v Town of Schodack, 195 AD2d 630, 632 [3d Dept 1993], affd 83 NY2d 894). Further, it is not clear on this record that Beightol was successful in persuading Supreme Court to adopt his initial position ( see Zedner v United States, 547 US 489, 504). Thus, we conclude that the doctrine of judicial estoppel is inapplicable, and we turn to the merits of Beightol's argument that the two absentee ballots submitted by R.Y. and W.Y. are invalid and should not be counted.
On the merits, Beightol first argues that the absentee ballots should not be counted because the Board did not receive completed absentee ballot applications prior to sending the absentee ballots to these two voters. Relying on Matter of Gross v Albany County Bd. of Elections ( 3 NY3d 251), Beightol contends that the Board of Elections' error was not merely technical or ministerial, and its failure to adhere to the provisions of the Election Law requires the invalidation of the two absentee ballots. We disagree.
The Election Law describes in detail the appropriate procedure for the issuance of absentee ballots ( see Election Law § 8-400; see also Gross, 3 NY3d at 256). Before a voter may cast an absentee ballot, he or she must complete an absentee ballot application ( see Election Law § 8-400). The application must include certain information; for example, the voter must specify the reason for his or her absence from the voting district, the duration of that absence, and that he or she is qualified and registered to vote in the election district for which the absentee ballot is sought ( see § 8-400 [3] [b], [c]). Applications for absentee ballots "must be mailed to the board of elections not later than the seventh day before the election for which a ballot is first requested or delivered to such board not later than the day before such election" (§ 8-400 [2] [c]). When a local board of elections receives an application for an absentee ballot, the board determines "upon such inquiry as it deems proper whether the applicant is qualified to vote and to receive an absentee ballot" (§ 8-402 [1], [2]), and, if it is satisfied by its inquiry, the absentee ballot is then forwarded to the voter ( see Gross, 3 NY3d at 256).
In Gross, we emphasized the need for compliance with the framework specified in the absentee ballot provisions ( see id. at 258). In that case, the Board of Elections, rather than following the particularized requirements of the Election Law, forwarded an absentee ballot for an April 2004 special general election to any voter who had requested one in the November 2003 general election without requiring an absentee ballot application from each voter ( see id. at 254). We concluded that the Board's mistake could not be "characterized as technical, ministerial or inconsequential because it was central to the substantive process by which voters are determined to be qualified to cast absentee ballots" ( id. at 258-259). Specifically, we observed that the Board's error resulted in an uneven application of the Election Law, because some voters were required to comply with the absentee voter application process, while others were not. We were also particularly concerned that the challenged absentee votes were cast by voters who were never made to "articulate[] why they were not able to vote at the polls" ( id. at 259). Thus, because of the Board of Elections' failure to ascertain whether the voters were duly qualified to cast absentee ballots, we concluded that the Board's mistake warranted the invalidation of the challenged absentee ballots.
The Board has conceded that the procedure it utilized here was not the best method of complying with the requirements of the Election Law and that it will not use these procedures again in the future. However, unlike the mistakes committed by the Board of Elections in Gross, the slight deviation from the prescribed procedure utilized by the Board "can be viewed as substantial compliance with statutory directives" ( Gross, 3 NY3d at 259). The defect in the procedure was not a "substantive deficiency implicating voter qualification" ( id. at 259 n 3).
Finally, Beightol's argument that the absentee ballots were void because the absentee ballot envelopes contained extrinsic materials identifying the voters lacks merit. We agree with the Appellate Division that the absentee ballots were not invalidated by the presence of the absentee ballot applications, because no marks on the ballots themselves identified the voters ( see Election Law § 9-112; see also Matter of Altimari v Meisser, 15 NY2d 686, 687, modfg 22 AD2d 933 [2d Dept 1964], rearg denied and remittitur amended 15 NY2d 847).