Agreement, which was entered on the public docket. It has since been in effect for at least three elections. Nearly eight months later—and after over one million voters cast their absentee ballots in the General Election—Wood challenges the terms of the Settlement Agreement as unconstitutional. Wood could have, and should have, filed his constitutional challenge much sooner than he did, and certainly not two weeks after the General Election.
- ii. Excuse
Nor has Wood articulated any reasonable excuse for his prolonged delay. Wood failed to submit any evidence explaining why he waited to bring these claims until the eleventh hour. He instead relies solely on a representation from his legal counsel during oral argument, without evidence, that Wood did not vote in any election between the execution of the Settlement Agreement and the General Election. Even assuming this proffer to be true, it does not provide a reasonable justification for the delay. Wood’s claims are constitutional challenges to Defendants’ promulgation authority under state law. If valid, these claims should not depend on the outcome of any particular election, to wit, whether Wood’s preferred candidates won or lost. Indeed, Wood’s claims, even assuming his standing for bringing them could be established, were ripe the moment the parties executed the Settlement Agreement.
