MESSAGE
| DATE | 2021-01-11 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] What voter fraud?
|
NYC candidates say it’s unsafe to collect voter signatures amid pandemic
https://nypost.com/2021/01/10/nyc-candidates-say-its-unsafe-to-collect-voter-signatures/
NYC candidates say it’s unsafe to collect voter signatures amid pandemic
By Carl Campanile
January 10, 2021 | 6:46pm | Updated
Enlarge Image
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Matthew McDermott
More On:
Coronavirus in NY
In-person NYC teachers outraged remote staff offered vaccine at the same
time
Was I really the right person to get the coveted COVID-19 vaccine?
Everything you need to know about getting the COVID vaccine in NY
Joe us the money! Cuomo ramps up pressure for Biden to deliver on
billions in NY aid
Candidates running for public office in New York City — including one
who was stricken with the coronavirus last year — are urging Gov. Andrew
Cuomo to waive rules requiring the collection of voter signatures to get
on the ballot during the pandemic.
More than 300 candidates have filed to run for 51 council seats, some 20
for mayor and scores of others for comptroller and borough president.
Under the law, 7,500 valid party signatures are required to get on the
ballot for mayor and other citywide offices. A total of 4,000 signatures
were originally required for borough president, since reduced to 2,000,
and the requirement for Council had been cut in half—from 900 to 450.
The petition requirements would require tens of thousands of
non-socially distanced interactions, candidates argue.
Petitioning for primary elections this year runs from Feb. 23 to April 1.
Corey Ortega, who was sick with COVID last year and is running for a
vacant council seat in Northern Manhattan, said it would be crazy to
require candidates or their supporters to petition for voter signatures
while a more contagious super strain of the virus is circulating.
Ortega, 37, who has diabetes, claimed he caught COVID while collecting
signatures on behalf of another candidate running for office last year.
“I had to go to the emergency room. I had trouble breathing. I was
scared out of my mind ,” Ortega recalled of his bout with the killer bug.
“I was sick for three weeks and it took me two more weeks to recover.”
Last year, petitioning for state legislative races started as the
COVID-19 outbreak first hit New York. Lawmakers and other candidates
raised safety concerns and reported that voters were refusing to sign
petitions.
Cuomo approved an emergency order shortening the petitioning period and
reducing signature requirements for those contests as well as
congressional races.
Ortega said merely reducing the number of voter signature collections is
unacceptable — and unsafe.
“What are you going to do? Put people a little less in harm’s way. It’s
all or nothing. I’m a competitive person but I don’t want to put my
opponents or their families in harm’s way,” he said.
Ortega said a better alternative would be evaluating campaign
contributions as level of support to determine ballot eligibility.
Arthur Schwartz, 67, a candidate running for Council in lower Manhattan,
also said it would be “nuts” to require petitioning at this time.
“I would have to go door-to-door and hand voters a pen. It’s ridiculous,
People are going to get sick” said Schwartz, who is law chairman of the
Manhattan Democratic Party.
Mark Levine, the City Council’s health committee chairman, said
distributing coronavirus vaccine to city residents to reduce infection
rates should take priority over campaign petitioning.
“The pandemic demands that we put safety first, and at a minimum
significantly lower the signature requirements, while maintaining focus
on vital health measures like accelerating vaccination,” Levine said.
Last year’s March 23 special election to fill a vacancy for Queens
borough president was postponed for months because of the severe
COVID-19 pandemic.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who has to run to defend his
seat this year, said, “During a pandemic the rules for petitioning
should be relaxed.”
Election lawyer Lawrence Mandelker said whether to go forward with
petitioning during the pandemic is a legitimate issue.
“You’re not socially distancing when you gather signatures,” Mandelker said.
“There’s going to be a lot of political pressure to lower the number of
signatures to collect or do away with signatures entirely. But what do
you replace it with? How do you measure a candidate’s support?”
Conversely, he noted that voters went to the polls during the
presidential election last November.
Many candidates farm out petition gathering work to political consulting
firms.
Cuomo spokesman Peter Ajemian responded, “As we have done throughout
the pandemic, we will continue to closely monitor the transmission rate
and other data and will make adjustments accordingly to ensure our
democratic process proceeds as safely as possible.”
Filed under andrew cuomo , Coronavirus in NY , elections , petitions
, 1/10/21
Share this article:
Teen in grave condition after shooting
Trending Now on NYPost.com
This story has been shared 125,288 times. 125,288
Dramatic video shows rioter hit Capitol cop with a fire extinguisher
This story has been shared 79,294 times. 79,294
Florida puts New York to shame in rational pandemic policies
This story has been shared 64,444 times. 64,444
Special ed teacher turns top OnlyFans sex star: 'I’m changing lives'
Columnists
Steve Cuozzo
The sky is the limit for new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station
Jennifer Gould
NYC restaurants are bracing for street chaos on Election Day
see all columnists
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
_______________________________________________
Hangout mailing list
Hangout-at-nylxs.com
http://lists.mrbrklyn.com/mailman/listinfo/hangout
|
|
