Evan Davis, former counsel to the late Mario Cuomo, says he will appeal the decision by a trial court to dismiss his lawsuit seeking to get the ConCon question on the front of the ballot cards this fall.
Here are the details in a story I have out this morning:
A lawyer and former counsel to Gov. Mario Cuomo who sued the state Board of Elections in an effort to get the constitutional convention question on the front of the November ballot in has had his case dismissed.
Evan Davis said he’ll appeal that state court decision.
“I am disappointed that the court has declined to order that the convention question be on the front of the ballot,” Davis said in a prepared statement.
“The question is mandated by the state constitution, arises once every 20 years, and consists of only 13 words. When placed on the back of the ballot, too many voters will not see it and will lose their constitutional right to correct state government. I, therefore, plan to appeal directly to the New York Court of Appeals as permitted by state law.”
The case is the latest chapter in a developing battle between those who want a constitutional convention and opponents.
A number of reform groups say a convention is needed to modernize state government as well as to enact reforms that could attack the state’s endemic political corruption. A convention could allow basic state constitutional provisions to be changed.
Opponents, including public employee unions, say a convention could open the door to changes in protections such as guaranteed public-sector pensions.
The last convention was held in 1967 but no changes to the constitution were approved.
Since that time, voters turned down the chance for more constitutional conventions in 1977 and in 1997.
And since the last vote, the state has adopted electronic optical scanning voting machines to replace the old lever-action devices. New Yorkers now get ballot cards that they mark, which are then inserted into the machines.
Davis and supporters fear the convention question could end up on the back of the cards and be missed by voters.
Davis heads the Committee for a Constitutional Convention.
If approved by voters in November, the convention would take place in 2019.
A recent poll by Siena Research Institute showed that two of three voters say they don’t know what the constitutional convention is but 47 percent still said that they would support it.
rkarlin@timesunion.com @RickKarlinTU
