Riverhead taxpayers foot $1.6 million bill for election law lawsuit

Riverhead taxpayers are already on the hook for $207,000 in legal fees and expenses, part of a bill that has climbed past $1.6 million across Riverhead and seven other Republican-led municipalities fighting New York’s even-year election law.

That money is being spent on a federal lawsuit in which the lead plaintiffs are Republican committees and GOP-backed local governments, but campaign finance filings tied to the case do not show clear payments, liabilities or in-kind legal contributions from the party committees themselves. For Suffolk County residents, the practical question is simple: a partisan fight over election timing is producing a direct public cost before a court has even reached the merits.

The case was filed Oct. 30, 2025 in the Eastern District of New York by the New York State Republican Committee, the Nassau, Suffolk and Orange county Republican committees, and several Republican-led towns and officials. It challenges New York’s Even-Year Election Law on First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment and Voting Rights Act grounds. The law, passed by the Legislature in June 2023 and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2023, took effect Jan. 1, 2025 and shifted most county and town elections outside New York City to even-numbered years.

Supporters, including state Sen. James Skoufis, have argued the change should boost turnout because even-year elections typically draw more voters. Opponents, including Republican leaders such as Rob Ortt and Suffolk County Republican Committee legal counsel Steven Losquadro, say the law will bury local issues under larger state and federal races and weaken home rule. In Riverhead, the transition has already shortened the 2025 supervisor term from two years to one, and council terms were also adjusted.

The financial burden comes as the federal case remains in motion. U.S. District Judge Gary Brown adjourned a pre-motion conference to June 18 at 2:30 p.m. after the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais prompted him to seek supplemental briefing on how that ruling may affect a motion to dismiss. Brown also said Riverhead’s 2026 supervisor election remains set for Nov. 3 unless a court order changes it.

The lawsuit is not the only battle over the law. New York’s Court of Appeals upheld it in a state-court challenge, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take that case in March 2026. Suffolk County’s 2025 ballot materials had already warned that the new election calendar could force taxpayer-funded special elections and even require changes to county legislator terms. For Riverhead and the other towns paying the bills, that warning has become a budget line, not a hypothetical.