Boies Schiller Flexner today filed a lawsuit against the New York Board of Elections for failing to adhere to the readability standards set under New York’s “Plain Language Law” when finalizing the text that will appear on the November ballot describing the Equal Rights Amendment.
The ballot measure, also referred to as Proposal Number One, would amend the New York State Constitution to prevent unequal treatment by New York and local governments regardless of sex, age, disability status, ethnicity, or national origin. It would also protect LGBT people and enshrine abortion rights into the constitution.
“The Board of Elections has failed in its duty to provide plain language to voters describing ballot proposals,” said Renee Zaytsev, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner. “The text that the BOE has provided contains legalese and has the potential to confuse voters. When overwhelmingly confronted by that fact during the review period, the BOE chose to ignore the law and the public calls for revisions to the language. We look forward to moving quickly to resolve this case in New York state court and to making sure all voters understand what this proposal is about come November.”
As detailed in the complaint, which we brought on behalf of Victoria Fernandez and Katherine Hauser, under New York Election Law Section 4-108, the Board of Elections was required to draft ballot language for Prop. One using descriptive text that voters can easily understand. However, when the board proposed language on July 5, it was not in compliance with the law. Following a 15-day comment period, the board certified final language on July 31 without making changes, despite receiving approximately 1,500 comments with the majority criticizing the proposed language and recommending revisions. The board also opted not to use the recommended language provided by the New York State Attorney General.
Our lawsuit seeks to declare the current language unlawful and to order the BOE to comply with the Plain Language Law by amending the ballot language to the text proposed by the New York Attorney General.
The full text of the suit can be found here.