People in Sullivan County have been paying more attention than usual to the Board of Elections (BOE) commissioners. In part, it's because of the unprecedented deal reached between a small block of Hasidic voters in the Village of Bloomingburg and the BOE. Many people in the village say the BOE caved to the demands of people who don’t live in the village and have no right to vote there. The lawsuit related to the deal is presumably why the current Democratic BOE commissioner is resigning effective March 11.

In every BOE office in New York State, there is a Republican Commissioner and a Democratic Commissioner. The Republican BOE Commissioner for Sullivan County, Laurie Benjamin, was nominated to fill former Legislator Rodney Gaebel’s vacant seat after he passed away. At the time of fulfilling that vacancy, the then-Democratic Majority Legislature confirmed Laurie Benjamin unanimously within the 45 day time frame under NYS election Law.

In the case of fulfilling Ann Prusinski’s vacancy, there were at least two prominent Democrats interested in running for the position: former county legislator Cora Edwards, and former legislature chair and former commissioner of the Division of Family Services Chris Cunningham.

In previous elections of BOE commissioners, and before the press brought attention surrounding the lawsuit and its unprecedented outcome into the media spotlight, such elections usually went unnoticed by the general public and interest was mainly limited to committee members from each party. Edwards posted her initial letter of interest on social media and press announcements, and followed up with individual Democratic party members throughout the county by emails, phone calls and personal visits.

On March 2, members of the Sullivan County Democratic Committee cast “weighted” votes: 2,663 for Edwards and 2,518 for Chris Cunningham, handing a hard-won victory to Edwards.

Now, according to NYS election law, once the vacancy is created, the chair of the Democratic Committee must ensure that “a certificate of recommendation to fill such vacancy shall be filed no later than 45 days after the vacancy was created,” with the legislative clerk. The chair of the Democratic Committee, Donna Schick, announced to members that she would submit the certificate on March 7.

The legislature must then vote to approve the nomination within 30 days. Even before the vote was held, however, Edwards received a call from a member of the legislature telling her that she should drop her effort to be elected to avoid embarrassment, because the legislator said, even if the majority of the Democratic party nominated her, the legislature would not approve her confirmation.

A day after her victory, multiple sources close to the situation began saying that some legislators are trying to derail the election results.

It’s not clear, however, that reversing or ignoring the election results through the legislature would withstand a legal challenge. Case law suggests that the courts would not look kindly on legislators who attempt to override the judgment of the voters in favor their own judgment.

In the case of Baker v. Kalil in 1992, the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors–acting in the same capacity as the Sullivan Legislature–named a BOE commissioner before the Democratic Party had the opportunity to select a candidate of its own. The Democratic Committee later met and did select a candidate, and the court action was brought to decide which candidate would ultimately serve.

An appellate court ordered that the commissioner selected by the Board of Supervisors be removed from office and the party committee’s recommendation be appointed as BOE commissioner. The circumstances are not the same, but the vote of the committee won out over the desires of the board of supervisors.

Asked what she expected to happen in this case, Edwards said, “I am confident that the Sullivan County Legislature will do the right thing and confirm the nominee chosen by the majority of the Sullivan County Democratic Committee last Wednesday March 2, 2016. I am enthusiastic about working with the team there for the upcoming elections and I look forward to doing a good job for the people of Sullivan County.”

Edwards said she campaigned for the position, “Because I believe in local democracy. It would certainly be a big blow to local democracy if the SC Legislature decided not to uphold the will of the voters in this nomination. Shouldn’t we have the election result be confirmed in the Board of Elections Commission itself?”