ALBANY — Aspiring congressional candidates had until Monday to turn in their petitions to appear on the ballot, and it appears that both Democratic and Republican voters in New York’s 21st Congressional District are likely to see a primary election this summer.
In the 21st Congressional District, which includes Schoharie County, all four candidates to complete the ballot petitioning process got far more than the 1,250 names necessary to make the ballot.
Stuart J. Amoriell, a Lake Placid-area restaurateur who wants to be the Democratic candidate, submitted about 2,000 signatures for that party’s line. Blake Gendebien, the Odgensburg-area farmer who has been running for Congress for more than a year now, got more than double that with 4,780 signatures.
On the Republican side, Anthony T. Constantino, the Amsterdam-area businessman who has also been campaigning for Congress for over a year, got about 9,000 signatures to run on the Republican Party line, according to various media reports. His campaign did not respond to an inquiry from the Watertown Daily Times on the subject. Questions have been raised about how Constantino’s campaign went about collecting those signatures.
Assembly member Robert J. Smullen, R-Meco — who currently represents District 118, which includes Richfield Springs in Otsego County — announced that he got more than 10,000 petition signatures to appear on the Republican line, topping out all his competition. He also secured 881 Conservative Party signatures.
To appear under a party’s line in an election in New York, candidates generally have to submit designating petitions that include a pre-set number of signatures from voters registered to the party, who live in the district the candidate is running for. To get the Democratic or Republican party line for Congress, candidates have to get at least 1,250 valid signatures, while candidates for the Conservative and Working Families parties need far less, only 5% of active enrolled party voters in that district.
When multiple candidates submit valid petitions to appear on a party’s ballot line, they compete in a primary election that decides the party’s final candidate. This year, that primary will be held June 28.
Another candidate for NY-21 appears in the state’s records. Dylan C. Hewitt, who was running to the left of Gendebien and had the backing of the Working Families Party, is listed as a valid candidate right now with the state Board of Elections. That is only because the Working Families Party chose to circulate and submit combined petitions that listed Hewitt alongside other down-ballot Working Families candidates; Hewitt will not appear on their ballot line this year.
The petitioning process is not entirely over; the forms submitted underwent a cursory review by the state Board of Elections, but it’s likely that at least a few candidates will see objections filed questioning the validity of their submissions. If a candidate is found to have fewer than 1,250 valid signatures through that objections process, they will lose their shot at the party’s ballot line this year.
Independent candidates who are seeking to appear under their own ballot line, rather than that of an established party, have not yet started their petitioning drives. That starts on April 14, with the last day to submit them on May 26. Independent candidates have to get at least 3,500 signatures to appear on the ballot; while any registered voter of any party can sign, they must not have signed a petition for another congressional candidate in the same year.