At the risk of receiving comments that I’m once again subtly defending the indefensible, I’m presenting a report on the first 3 days of hearings on petition challenges at the New York City Board of Elections.
There are a very few cases still to be heard and some cases will now be heard in court, so this report is not the final word.
Once again, it seemed to me, that there were many less challenges involving “technicalities” than in most years. Most candidates who were removed from the ballot did not appear to defend their petitions, which seems to me to mean they simply did not file enough signatures from registered voters – for example a State Senate candidate in Brooklyn’s petitions contained a total of 89 signatures when 1,000 were required.
Among of the more significant decisions made by the Board was the removal from the ballot of two incumbent Democratic District Leaders. This is the first time that I remember something like this happening.
One of the two was former Councilman Kendall Stewart from Brooklyn, who did not defend his petition. I assume the earlier report on Room 8 about Councilman Stewart’s health was a major factor in this.
The other was Martha Flores-Vasquez from Flushing, who was removed because her petition left out the word Female and only listed the position sought as Democrat District Leader when separate votes are cast for Male & Female. I leave it for others to debate whether this is a “technicality” or not.
Two other Queens candidates for Democratic District Leader were removed because they do not live in the districts in which they were running. They argued that District Leaders only have to live in their districts on Primary Day but the Board disagreed.
A few candidates were removed because their petitions contained candidates for different Assembly Districts in the same petition. This was considered a violation until a few years ago when the Appellate Court allowed it. Last year, the law was changed to once ago disallow this. I suspect that the candidates did not know the law had changed. I know that I didn’t know.
Two other cases of candidates being removed seem to have some possible significance to this year’s elections.
In one case, Francisco Tirado, a Community Board District Manager, who was one of 3 candidates opposing State Senator Pedro Espada in the Democratic Primary was removed for lack of signatures and did not appear to defend.
In the other, John Tabacco, a former City Council candidate and registered member of the Independence Party, who is attempting to challenge Congressman Mike McMahon for the IP line. Mr. Tabacco did appear to defend his petitions and there were a number of technical issues raised. He is now in court trying to get back on the ballot.