As the June 24th primary nears, several candidates in Albany and Schenectady will not be on the ballot as planned.
Some candidates for public office have failed to meet state standards while others have had to refocus their campaigns after their election petitions were invalidated.
In mid-April, the Schenectady County Board of Elections invalidated nominating petitions for city councilors Marion Porterfield and Damonni Farley. The BOE ruled that the Democrats lacked a sufficient number of signatures. The NAACP Schenectady chapter answered the ruling with a press conference on city hall steps where the Schenectady Democratic Committee was accused of a repeated pattern of silencing Black voices.
The committee chose to not endorse Porterfield and Farley. Porterfield filed a lawsuit challenging another candidate's ballot petitions. Committee Chairman Frank Salamone says Porterfield's legal action was in no way related to attempting to restore her to the Democratic line.
“She did not collect enough signatures, and they apparently realized that they could not make that argument in court. Instead they went to court in an attempt to remove an African-American woman from the ballot, Kim Wiggins, who was endorsed by the committee, who is a person of color, and they made allegations that were completely untrue and baseless to try to have her removed from the ballot,” Salamone said.
The court ruled Wiggins could remain on the ballot.
Unfazed, Porterfield, who's served on the council for 13 years, says she's pressing on.
"I'm on the job and I'm doing the job. I will continue running on the Working Families line. I feel like for the years that I've been serving, that even though I don't have a Democratic endorsement, I, as a council person, have been doing it this job the city, and even though the party, for party reasons, decided that they didn't no longer want to hear my voice, I feel like my voice for the community is still needed," said Porterfield.
In the city of Albany, Working Families party-endorsed 3rd ward Common Council candidate Lukee Forbes also plans to stay in the race. Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Alison McLean Lane said "His petition for the Working Families Party was not invalidated, only his petition on the Democratic line was invalidated. There were two objectors. One specification of objections was upheld, and one was not."
McLean Lane says candidates need to collect 5% of the enrolled party's signatures within the jurisdiction they’re running for.
She says four other council candidates' petitions were thrown out: 13th ward candidate Krystal Harris and 6th ward hopefuls Rosamaria Luppino McHugh, who had already dropped out, David Warnock and Christina Wiggins. Harris and Wiggins submitted rebuttals that the BOE disqualified.
Wiggins is on the ballot for another race, facing four candidates vying for two open seats on the Albany Public Library Board of Trustees. That election is May 20th. Wiggins hasn't abandoned the 6th ward contest.
"What I have done is decided to fill out another petition, which requires the same amount of signatures as the Democrat primary petition. It's a little unheard of, because people assume when you do something like that, that it means that you're running like a different party, or you're running independent? No, I just figured out paperwork. And there's another option, if I do not make the primary, then I can make the general," said Wiggins.
McLean Lane says the BOE is accepting independent nominating petitions for a week starting May 20th.
