Legal battles holding up mayoral ballot certification

The ballots for Buffalo mayor were supposed to be certified on Thursday, but they’ve been put on hold until the pending legal battle to put Incumbent Mayor Byron Brown on the ballot is resolved.

The Erie County Board of Elections put the process on hold until a state supreme court judge decides whether or not to overturn a ruling to put Brown on the independent line of the ballot.

On Wednesday, attorneys for India Walton were granted a stay on an appeal filed by her team, which placed a temporary hold on adding Brown.

There’s also a federal appeal underway, but so far, no decision. The Board of Elections is also appealing the federal order.

“If the lower court decisions are stayed by both the federal and the state court, that would mean that Mayor Brown’s candidacy would not appear as a name on the ballot but he would still have the opportunity to write in,” said Republican Board of Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr.

Mohr said the board joined the appeal because it wants to see the law upheld.

“We feel that this is a precedent-setting situation,” said Mohr.

“The court had struck down a state law which we had applied to all the candidates that filed petitions for this year, and would be filing petitions for in years future.”

Mohr said the board hopes for a decision by both state and federal courts by next Thursday so they can print the ballots and begin mailing them out.