Voting Rights, Election and Political Law
Abrams Fensterman lives at the intersection of law, government and politics. For decades, our lawyers have represented leading candidates in high-impact election law matters. As Winston Churchill said, “The first obligation of the statesman is to get elected.” But the law of politics in the 21st century is far more complex. Being successful in the political arena today involves far more than just getting on the ballot. Candidates and political parties must navigate continuous re-districting battles, comply with complex campaign finance laws for candidates and donors, establish legal vehicles for supporting candidacies and political initiatives, and comply with lobbying and other disclosure laws. It also involves impact litigation – litigation to achieve a political result – both at the trial level or on appeal. Our political law team has pioneered winning strategies in those areas for years.
Former Judge Robert Spolzino – An Executive Partner at the firm and a former Justice of the Appellate Division, Judge Spolzino brings decades of experience as both a jurist and an election attorney to representing candidates, political organizations, and municipalities. He is the Law Chair of the Westchester County Democratic Committee.
David Imamura – A Partner at Abrams Fensterman, LLP, he co-chairs the Firm’s Political Law Practice and is a member of the Civil Litigation and White-Collar Criminal Defense practice groups working out of the firm’s White Plains office. David previously served as Chair of the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission, is a Co-Author of Goldfeder on Election Law (6th edition, October 2022), and is Co-Chair of the Irvington Democratic Committee. Imamura brings substantial experience in helping candidates get on the ballot, complying with state and federal campaign finance law, as well as redistricting law. He is now a Westchester County Legislator.
Our team has handled almost every kind of political law matter that arises. We represent and advise candidates for Congress, the New York State Legislature and local office in ballot access and campaign finance matters. We also litigate actively in political cases.
Anthony Genovesi is the Counsel and Rachel Demarest Gold is the Deputy Counsel for the Kings County Democratic Committee, the largest county political organization in the country. Rachel was the Chair of the Women’s Equality Party. Daniel Alter served as general counsel for the Anti-Defamation League. Amy Marion has tried civil rights cases for more than 30 years. Jeffrey Cohen and Bob Spolzino were both elected as Justices of the New York State Supreme Court and then appointed to the Appellate Division.
Some of our recent and most notable engagements include:
- We have filed a lawsuit against the Town of Newburgh, a municipality in the Hudson Valley under the New York State Voting Rights Act to prevent racial voter suppression.
- We commenced the first and third proceedings under the New York State Voting Rights Act to bring an end to racially polarized voting in the Town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County.
- Successfully defeated a candidate who filed a certificate of nomination for a public office that the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, had eliminated.
- Successfully defeated the term limits law that was seen as barring the re-election of the Supervisor of the Town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, arguing successfully in New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
- We successfully forced a candidate for Westchester County Legislature off the ballot based on the invalidity of the signatures on his designating petition.
- We successfully enforced the term limits law of the Town/Village of Harrison, Westchester County, to defeat the candidacy of a Former Supervisor.
- Defending the redistricting of the Rockland County Legislature, defeating a petition for a writ of certiorari
- Defended the result of the judicial convention for the Ninth Judicial District (Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam Counties) against a challenge by an unsuccessful candidate.
- Successfully compelled the Town of Yorktown, Rockland County, to stop a construction project blocking access to the Town’s most active polling place that it commenced a week for Election Day.
Contact Our Law Firm
For further information about our election law practice, please contact our law firm today on Long Island at 516-328-2300, in Brooklyn at 718-215-5300, White Plains at 914-607-7010, Rochester at 585-218-9999 or Albany at 518-535-9477.
