WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2007. By John F. Bailey. August 1, 2007: The Board of Elections for Westchester County has still as of Wednesday evening not made a decision on whether to declare Democratic Primary Challenger candidate Candyce Corcoran’s petitions invalid.
However, there is a legal precedent that surfaced today for declaring petitions containing the exact error Ms. Corcoran has made valid despite the error, (even though the Board of Elections allegedly supplied her with misinformation). Corcoran delivered copies of the 2003 decision to Board of Elections Commissioners Reginald LaFayette and Carolee Sunderland's office today. LaFayette refused to accept the court papers, but said, according to Corcoran he was aware of the precedent. Sunderland's office accepted them.
Corcoran told WPCNR it appeared she would be forced to go to court for a cost estimated at $3,000 to enforce the precedent. Corocoran’s petitions were challenged by White Plains City Democratic Committee leaders Elizabeth Schollenberger and Tim James for not including city and county in the Witness Identification Information section.
The case happened in 2003 when Patricia Harrington was running in a Primary for the Independence Party for the office of Town Receiver of Taxes in North Hempstead. According to court papers, Ms. Harrington’s petitions did not include her town and county in the Witness Identification Information Section, and the Nassau County Board of Elections attempted to deny her a position on the ballot.
The Supreme Court of New York, Second Department ruled:
“We conclude that the failure of the subscribing witness to include the town or city, and the county, in the “Witness Identification Information” section of the petition is insufficient, in and of itself, to warrant invalidation of the petition, particularly where, as here, the complete address of the subscribing witness appears elsewhere on the same page of the petition."
Corcoran and her advisors told WPCNR she thought it was wrong for the Board of Elections to force any candidate to go to court to enforce a precedent they should already be aware existed.
