Ballot Access Laws Strike Again
July 27th, 2009
(This post was written by DeNora Gethachew, director of public policy and legislative counsel for Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette.)
With a little over 50 days until the Sept. 15 primary, New York’s arcane and overly procedural ballot access laws have declared another victim this past week — Bill de Blasio. De Blasio, a candidate for public advocate, was required to submit petitions with 7,500 signatures or a number totaling 5 percent of the voters qualified to vote for the office, whichever is less. He filed 125,000.
So why is it possible that de Blasio may not be on the primary election ballot? Because his required petition cover sheet contained the incorrect number of petition volumes. While the law allows a candidate to cure such a flaw to ensure that these types of errors are not fatal, the campaign, according to published reports, put the wrong number of volumes again –- and the law and rules only allow one chance to cure mistakes.
Thus the Board of Elections bipartisan committee on cover sheet review ruled de Blasio’s petitions invalid — despite the fact that he submitted approximately 16 times as many signatures as the law requires. On Friday, De Blasio filed court papers to appeal the board’s ruling that his petitions were invalid. Thus instead of campaigning and increasing his name recognition, he will be navigating the legal system to try to be reinstated on the ballot.
This begs the question of whether this is really the result that the drafters of the election law desired? Is form really more important than substance? If you asked most voters, not only would they probably be unfamiliar with the complexity of New York’s petition process, but also shocked and dismayed to know that they cannot vote for a candidate with community support because of a minor typo. Our election system should not be about satisfying procedural hurdles over proving to voters why a candidate is qualified to represent them.
While a recent Gotham Gazette article outlined the difficulties associated with New York’s maze-like ballot access laws, the de Blasio case is a particularly egregious case given the trivial nature of the challenge. It only underscores the problems with the state’s laws and the need for meaningful reform to this cumbersome and antiquated process. Hopefully that will be on the state legislature’s agenda when they return from recess later this year.
(To see if you have what it takes to get on New York’s ballot and stay there, play Bump the Birds, our ballot maze game.)
By Gail Robinson on July 27, 2009, 8:05 amIn category: Gotham City, Governing | 1 Comment »



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July 27th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
The following statement is by Alex Zablocki, Republican candidate for Public Advocate, regarding the Board of Elections ruling tonight to kick Councilman Bill de Blasio, candidate for Public Advocate, off the ballot due to a technicality:
“News tonight that Councilman Bill de Blasio, my democratic opponent in the race for Public Advocate, was kicked off the ballot due to a technicality is further proof that our election laws must be changed in New York State. The petition process, from beginning to end, is a lawyers dream. The rules are complicated and archaic and not only turn off potential candidates who want to run for office, but also prevent access to the ballot for candidates that have few resources. I’ve been saying since day one of my campaign that we have to reform our election laws and allow better access to the ballot. The ruling by the Board of Elections regarding Mr. de Blasio’s cover sheet was based on preset rules; however many other candidates will be denied the right to run for this office because of other technical requirements or petition challenges from opponents. Candidates running for office should not be chosen in the court room. I hope Mr. de Blasio can join with me and pledge, along with the other candidates running for office this year, that if elected, we all work towards reforming our election laws to allow more people to run for office, not force people to fight a broken system of archaic rules. Nobody should be denied the right to run for office and serve the people of our city and state.”
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http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#/pages/Alex-Zablocki-for-Public-Advocate/19268252975