New York judge rules it is unconstitutional to allow voting by mail if it is due to COVID fears

A judge in New York ruled on Friday that it is unconstitutional to allow voting by mail based on fears of the coronavirus.

Saratoga County Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone, a Republican, wrote in her decision on Friday that the New York state legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, "appears poised to continue the expanded absentee voting provisions of New York State Election Law … in an Orwellian perpetual state of health emergency and cloaked in the veneer of ‘voter enfranchisement,'" according to Fox News.

The ruling does not invalidate already mailed ballots, but it stated that local election boards must stop counting the already received absentee ballots and to "preserve" them until after Election Day on Nov. 8 or until there is a resolution of the lawsuit filed by Republicans.

New York state Democratic leaders have already appealed the ruling.

One of the plaintiffs in the case, New York state Rep. Robert Smullen, said, "Let's hope now that they preserve our ability to make sure that our elections are done with integrity and that voters are verified and that this system of absentee balloting – just like the voters said last November that they didn’t want no-excuse absentee voting, essentially mail-in voting – that it is held to a high standard, that way to ensure that each citizen gets one vote," according to WRGB.