The New York state Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal from the state Republicans challenging part of a state law that allows boards of election to count absentee ballots as soon as polls close on Election Day.

The state’s highest court on Thursday ruled the law expanding absentee balloting is constitutional, rejecting the plaintiffs’ claim the law violates the equal representation mandate in Article II, Section 8 of the New York state Constitution and constitutional principles of judicial review and separation of powers.

The law in question was passed by the state Legislature in 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 elections as a way to streamline counting of mail-in votes. In 2020, many New Yorkers voted by absentee as a result of the ongoing pandemic, but at the time, state law prohibited the counties of New York from starting to count absentee ballots until at least three days after Election Day, with many waiting longer than that. Due to the high volume of absentees that year, it took weeks to count them and garner official election results.

Republican challenges to the law started in 2022 and centers around the argument that the counting of those votes impedes the ability of a judicial review of problematic ballots, mainly whether the voter’s signature on the ballot envelope matches the voter’s signature on file. State law requires boards of election to “compare the signature, if any, on each ballot envelope” with the signature on the applicable registration records, but if the board is split on whether or not a ballot is valid, the ballot is still canvassed and a court cannot order a counted ballot to be “uncounted.”

The court’s ruling Thursday said that provision doesn’t violate the state Constitution’s requirement of “equal representation” of the two major political parties on various election bodies since any member can declare a ballot valid or invalid, and that it does not “unconstitutionally constrain the judiciary.”

"Today's Court of Appeals decision marks another decisive win for New York voters," state Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris said in a statement. "I remain committed to ensuring all eligible voters can be confident their vote will be counted. As Election Day approaches, we can now put behind us the latest Republican attempt to infringe on these inalienable rights and focus on helping New Yorkers."