ALTHOUGH RESPONDENT VOTED IN CONNECTICUT WHILE IN COLLEGE THERE, NEW YORK REMAINED HIS ELECTORAL RESIDENCY; THEREFORE RESPONDENT WAS ELIGIBLE TO RUN FOR STATE SENATE IN NEW YORK (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, over a dissent, determined New York, not Connecticut, was respondent’s (Koffman’s) electoral residency. Therefore respondent was eligible to run for the State Senate in New York. Respondent had attended college in Connecticut and registered to vote a there during college:
Petitioner submitted proof that respondent had registered to vote and had voted in Connecticut from 2015 to 2018 instead of voting by absentee ballot in New York. In opposition to the summary judgment motion, respondent presented his affidavit and documentary evidence which demonstrated, among other things, that he was born and raised in New York; that he used his New York home as his permanent address; maintained his New York driver’s license; paid New York taxes; completed New York jury service while he was a student at Yale; lived in New York when school was not in session; returned to New York to live and work after graduation, and always considered himself a New York resident. * * *
Under the circumstances here, where there was ample proof that Koffman was a New York resident and that Koffman’s presence in Connecticut as a college student was temporary, together with the fact that he was not required under Connecticut law to renounce any voter registration in another state … , petitioner fell short of meeting his burden by clear and convincing evidence that respondent does not meet the residency requirement of the NY Constitution. Matter of Quart v Kaufman. 2020 NY Slip Op 02904, First Dept 5-14-20