SARANAC LAKE – Scott Lewis’ petition to run for New York’s 21st Congressional District on the Common Sense Party line was deemed “inadequate” by state Board of Elections commissioners last week. Lewis is appealing this decision and a hearing is scheduled for June 28.
Lewis filed his ballot petition last month and collected about 3,500 signatures in an effort to secure an independent ballot line in the federal race, along with Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik and Democratic challenger Paula Collins.
The BoE commissioners held a prima facie – or “first impression” – hearing last week and deemed his petition “inadequate,” after invalidating numerous pages of signatures because they lacked full witness statements on the number of signatures observed, because they were not numbered or the signatures were not included. geographic territory of NY-21. Kathleen McGrath, director of public information for the state bank, said a prima facie review is for petitions that contain something that is invalid on “face value.”
“Some of the issues identified during the prima facie assessment can be addressed; others cannot,” McGrath said.
These rulings cannot be appealed to the BoE, but can be appealed through the courts. That’s what Lewis does.
He is seeking a “de novo” hearing — meaning from the beginning or anew — so the state can revisit his petition.
“The New York State Board of Elections erred in its ruling,” he wrote in his petition to the state Supreme Court in Albany County.
He argues that the commissioners’ decision was made based on election law that does not apply to his case, and that he was not given a “cure period” to correct the petition’s technical violations.
McGrath said the ballot for the Nov. 5 election has not yet been set. It is generally certified in the “late summer,” she said.
Four people filed general objections to Lewis’ ballot. Only two filed further specific objections before the June 6 deadline: Essex County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Maggie Bartley and an attorney named Scott Walton. McGrath said these two specific objections were not reviewed because the petition was deemed invalid based on the prima facie review. Bartley and Walton were also named as respondents in Lewis’ lawsuit.
Lewis has been living in the Tri-Lakes area for the past few months, but said he plans to move to Ogdensburg soon.
Lewis said some people had petitions for him in Herkimer and Warren counties, but most of the collection was done by him standing in front of stores in Franklin, Essex, St. Lawrence and Clinton counties.
Lewis needed 3,500 signatures to obtain a ballot. In his lawsuit, Lewis said he filed 3,828. But commissioners counted only 3,493 signatures — seven fewer than required. BoE documents show that Lewis submitted 768 pages of signatures to the state, but not all of them have been counted.
Lewis said 20 signatures were left out of the total count because they were on “sheets that were not numbered or otherwise out of order.” He also said that 315 signatures were left out of the total count because the witness statement did not include the number of signatures they witnessed. Lewis maintains that this is not a requirement of state election law, and if it is, it should be remediable during the three-day period.
There was an update to the electoral law this year which stated that “if the number of signatures stated in the witness statement is missing, the entire sheet must be invalidated.”
“Failure to claim signatures is a fatal flaw in a petition,” McGrath said.
This is the part where a witness swears that he personally saw every voter sign the page; McGrath said it is the equivalent of an affidavit and carries the same penalties if it is false.
McGrath said if a candidate realizes that a witness has not completed the affidavit during the filing period, he or she can submit an amended “cured” petition with the completed claims for signatures. But this is only during the filing period. Lewis filed his petition on the last day of the filing period – May 28.
Lewis said he was not aware of this election law update, but is willing to make his case that he should have been given a grace period.
Lewis cites case law stating that petitioners are offered a three-day remedy for “technical violations” in the pagination, binding or cover page of their petition.
“Petitioner was denied a three-day treatment facility to correct non-fatal deficiencies,” Lewis said in his petition to the court.
McGrath said curing the petition is only allowed during the filing period. Lewis disagrees.
“Nowhere in the law does it state that the three-day recovery period falls within the filing deadline,” Lewis said.
He added that part of the filing period for independent candidates was taken over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, which he said was unfair to independent candidates.
The other reason for invalidating Lewis’s petition was an “inadequate description of the public office.” He listed the office as “21st Congressional District,” but commissioners said the description should have included the geographic area covered by the office.
Lewis claims that “21st Congressional District” is valid, and says the case law the commissioners cited is “irrelevant” since it involved a candidate for the then state-recognized “Independence Party,” and not an independent body as he stands as a candidate. These filing procedures are guided by different laws: Election Law 6-132 “Designation of Petition” for candidates on one of the four official party lines (Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives and Working Families) and Election Law 6-140 “Independent Nominations” for independent candidates.
“The requirement to properly cite public office does not vary between designating and independent nominating petitions,” McGrath said.
Lewis points out that the party candidate form can be for either public office or party position, which can be a specific geographic region of that district. The independent candidate form can only apply to public office.
“You can’t run for anything other than Congress in the 21st Congressional District as an independent,” he said. “There is no confusion when people sign.”
The hearing on the case will take place before Judge Christina Ryba on June 28 at 1:30 p.m., according to the Albany Supreme Court calendar.
