Onondaga County's Democratic and Republican elections commissioners are headed to court, but on opposite sides. Democrat Dustin Czarny sued Republican Kevin Ryan Wednesday, claiming Ryan does not have the authority to refuse to accept the accidentally signed measure putting a question of term limits for the county executive and comptroller on November's ballot.
(Read the lawsuit at the bottom of this story.)
The suit and Czarny's statement posted to his personal website both say that the elections commissioner's job is "ministerial," meaning that commissioners do not have the discretion to decide what goes onto the ballot, as long as those measures have been properly approved and prepared.
"Questions regarding the validity of resolutions belong to the officials designated by law and, when disputes arise, to the courts," Czarny said in his statement. "In my view, the resolution transmitted to the Board on July 17, 2026, should be placed before the voters this November unless a court determines otherwise."
Democrats in charge of the County Legislature claim that the approval of a term limits law that Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon mistakenly signed without reading it is the one that counts, even though McMahon had said in a press conference an hour before that he would veto the measure. His veto arrived after the accidental approval was accepted by the Legislature, which, they claim, makes it official under the county's charter.
Czarny said he chose to sue because he felt that the courts were the only place to resolve the question and do it quickly, as the deadline to finalize the November ballot is Sept. 10.
He said he felt that Ryan was acting in sincere good faith, but "if one commissioner can prevent a properly transmitted resolution from reaching the ballot based on legal grounds not assigned to election commissioners under state law, it establishes a precedent that fundamentally changes how bipartisan Boards of Elections function," Czarny wrote.
The County Legislature was preparing to sue, having approved earlier this week a resolution authorizing a lawsuit if they felt it became necessary. Czarny beat them to it, though Ryan told Syracuse.com he thinks Czarny may not have legal standing to sue. Ryan told the website that the lawsuit was a publicity stunt. Ryan did not respond to a request for comment sent to him late Wednesday night.
