Bloomberg Campaign Challenges Petitions, Wants Fewer Choices for NYC Voters

The State of New York has some of the most archaic rules to follow for petitioning candidates in the nation. Currently, petitioning various local offices is under way in New York City, including petitioning for the Mayor’s race as well as City Council.

The focus on bureaucratic and clerical errors instead of voter eligibility often means that candidates who collected enough signatures are kicked off the ballot anyway. Even this year, Brooklyn City Council Member Bill de Blasio, a Democratic candidate for New York City Public Advocate, was ruled ineligible to run for office because of a clerical counting error on one of his petitions, though he was reinstated.

But what about the candidates whose petitions are being challenged?

Will they be able to see their names on the ballot?

Not if Mayor Bloomberg has his way.

Several city council candidates have had their signatures challenged by John Haggerty, Jr., the personal petitioning coordinator for Mayor Bloomberg’s reelection campaign. Mr. Bloomberg’s lead operative is the named party on a number of challenges, including the challenge of the Republican Borough President Candidate in Queens, and all the Conservative Party’s citywide candidates.

In New York City, you do not even have to give a reason for your challenge to someone’s petition until after the challenge has already been initiated. After the challenge has been initiated, the challenger has 6 days to state the reason for the challenge, and then a ruling is made within two weeks by the board of elections. If a candidate is unhappy with the ruling, the last stop is a day in court.

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation finds it ridiculous that petitions can be challenged for no reason at all, and that the challenges almost always befall candidates that are considered to be outsiders.

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation supports the efforts of ALL New York City candidates to get on the ballot, regardless of political ideology.

Free & Equal urges Mayor Bloomberg to respect democracy in New York City and cease with the petty petitioning challenges.

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