Delegates to the judicial convention are registered party voters, elected in New York’s June primary, who represent their assembly district at an August convention that nominates the party’s candidates for state Supreme Court. Unlike almost every other judgeship in New York, Supreme Court candidates never appear on a primary ballot themselves. They reach the general election only by winning a majority vote at one of these conventions, which makes the delegates who cast those votes the real gatekeepers to the trial bench.1New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-124 – Conventions; Judicial
What Judicial Convention Delegates Do
New York’s Supreme Court is the state’s trial court of general jurisdiction, and justices are elected within each of the thirteen judicial districts. Each judicial district contains several assembly districts, and every assembly district sends its own slate of delegates and alternates to the party’s judicial convention for that district. At the convention, delegates hear nominations, second them, and vote by roll call. A candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast becomes the party’s nominee for Supreme Court and moves on to the November ballot.
You will not usually see these delegate races prominently displayed. On the primary ballot they sit near the bottom, below the higher-profile contests, and only voters enrolled in the relevant party can vote in them.
How Many Delegates Each Assembly District Gets
The number of delegates and alternates from each assembly district is set by party rules, but the law requires it to be roughly proportional to the votes cast in that assembly district for the party’s candidate for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election.1New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-124 – Conventions; Judicial An assembly district where the party’s candidate for governor ran strongly sends more delegates than one where the candidate underperformed. The number of alternates from any district cannot exceed the number of delegates.
Courts have accepted some deviation from perfect proportionality, upholding conventions where smaller districts were somewhat overrepresented, so long as the allocation is substantially in line with the gubernatorial vote ratio.
How to Run as a Delegate
To run for a delegate or alternate seat, you must be a registered voter, enrolled in the party whose convention you want to attend, and live in the assembly district you want to represent. Getting on the ballot means circulating a designating petition to collect signatures from other enrolled party members in your district.
The Petition and Signatures
The petition has to follow the format set out in Election Law ยง 6-132. Each signature sheet needs either a signed witness statement or a notary’s attestation at the bottom. If you use a witness, that witness must be a registered voter enrolled in the same party. The witness statement has to include the number of signatures on that sheet, and the witness’s identification information must be filled in before the petition is filed. Miss any of that, and the whole sheet is invalid.2New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-132 – Designating Petition; Form
The signature threshold is five percent of enrolled party members in the assembly district. Delegate petitions are capped at the same number required for an Assembly member race, so you never need more than 500 signatures no matter how large the district’s enrollment.3New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-136 – Designating Petitions; Number of Signatures In smaller or lower-enrollment districts, five percent works out to far fewer, so the practical threshold can be quite low.
The Filing Window
Completed petitions have to be filed with the Board of Elections during a narrow statutory window. For the 2026 cycle, that window runs from March 30 through April 6.4NYC Board of Elections. 2026 Designating Petition Filing Calendar File outside that window and the petition is rejected outright.
Challenges After You File
Once your petition is on file, opposing candidates or other party members can go to court to try to knock you off the ballot. Common grounds include a missing witness address, signatures from voters who are not enrolled in the party, signers who live outside the assembly district, and a witness who failed to fill in the number of signatures on the sheet. These defects sound minor, but they routinely take candidates off the ballot. Having an attorney review every page before filing is worth the cost. One defective witness statement can wipe out a full sheet of otherwise valid signatures.
How Delegates Are Elected in June
Delegate and alternate candidates appear on the primary ballot in the assembly district where they filed. The 2026 primary is scheduled for June 23.5NYC Board of Elections. Upcoming Elections 2026 Only voters enrolled in the party can vote in that party’s delegate races.
Here is the part that surprises people. In most assembly districts, the delegate slots are uncontested. The number of candidates who file petitions equals the number of available seats, so there is nothing to decide, and the names may not even appear on the ballot at all. When that happens, the delegates are effectively chosen at the petition stage rather than by voters on primary day.
When a race is contested, the top vote-getters win the delegate seats. The remaining candidates fill the alternate slots in the order of votes they received. The Board of Elections certifies the results, which determine who has the legal right to cast a vote at the convention.
The August Convention
The judicial convention itself is held in August, not right after the June primary. State law sets the window: no earlier than the Thursday following the first Monday in August and no later than six days after that.6New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-158 – Nominating and Designating Petitions and Certificates, Conventions; Times for Filing and Holding For 2026, that falls between August 6 and August 12. Delegates from every assembly district within the judicial district gather to nominate the party’s Supreme Court candidates.
Voting is by roll call. Because the number of delegates each assembly district sends reflects its share of the party’s gubernatorial vote, representation is proportional rather than equal.1New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-124 – Conventions; Judicial A candidate who wins a majority of votes cast becomes the nominee.
The convention secretary then prepares a Certificate of Nomination listing the nominee’s name, address, and the judicial office, signed by the presiding officer and the secretary.7New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-156 – Party Nominations; Certification That certificate must be filed with the Board of Elections no later than the day after the last permissible convention date, and the certified minutes of the convention must be filed within 72 hours of adjournment.6New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-158 – Nominating and Designating Petitions and Certificates, Conventions; Times for Filing and Holding
When Alternates Step In
If an elected delegate does not appear at the convention, an alternate from the same assembly district takes their seat. The substitution order tracks the primary vote count: the alternate with the most votes goes first. Ties are broken by lot at the start of the convention. In uncontested elections with no vote count, alternates are called in the order their names appear on the certified list.1New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-124 – Conventions; Judicial
If no alternates were elected and none show up, the delegates present from that assembly district can elect someone on the spot to fill the vacancy. That backstop keeps every district represented even when the original slate falls apart.
A separate rule covers what happens if the nominee themselves later declines, dies, or becomes disqualified. In that case, the Committee to Fill Vacancies named on the original certificate of nomination files a new certificate with the Board of Elections naming a replacement candidate and stating the reason for the vacancy.8New York State Senate. New York Election Law 6-148 – Nomination and Designation; Filling Vacancies
Who Really Picks the Nominees
On paper, delegates deliberate and choose the strongest judicial candidates. In practice, county party leaders shape the outcome well before the convention meets. Party officials typically handpick delegate slates, and because those slates almost always run unopposed, the delegates who show up are often insiders with little independence from party leadership. More than 96 percent of convention nominations are uncontested, with no alternative candidates even put forward, and many conventions last less than half an hour.
The effect is that the party’s preferred candidate is often settled in private long before the roll call. Cross-endorsement deals between parties can shrink voter choice further: when both major parties nominate the same candidate, the general election is a formality. Critics say this makes judges beholden to party leaders rather than voters. Defenders say conventions add a layer of professional vetting that a low-turnout judicial primary could not match.
Either way, if you are voting in a June primary and see delegate and alternate names at the bottom of your ballot, those races decide who staffs the room where your next Supreme Court justice is actually chosen.