Candidate sues board over ballot petitions

The state Supreme Court will decide which candidates appear on the 122nd Assembly District ballot after state Board of Elections commissioners were sued Wednesday by Republican Kenneth D. Blankenbush and his supporters.

Mr. Blankenbush has asked an Albany judge to order the commissioners to declare opponent Brian S. McGrath's Democratic and Independence Party petitions "insufficient, defective, invalid, fraudulent (and) null and void."

In their petition, lawyers representing Mr. Blankenbush offered 54 arguments to drop Mr. McGrath from the ballot. It was unclear if the attorneys were suggesting Mr. McGrath had violated all, or just some, of the 54 ways.

Hearings on both party petitions will be held Monday.

Although listed as the "candidate aggrieved," Mr. Blankenbush said he was not directly involved in the filing of the lawsuit.

The candidate said challenging elections commissioners in court was a "routine" carried out many times in the past by both major parties.

"My concern is that I'm still campaigning," he said. "I assume Mr. McGrath is still on the ballot."

Mr. McGrath said Thursday that the state board had officially ruled in his favor, determining that he had 537 valid signatures on his Democratic petition. He needed 500. The state Board of Elections could not be immediately reached to confirm that outcome.

The Times mistakenly reported Thursday that the board had issued a preliminary ruling in Mr. McGrath's favor. It was actually a staff worksheet that carries no weight.

Mr. Blankenbush defended his decision to challenge Mr. McGrath's petitions, which contained just over the minimum amount of signatures needed.

"I did what I had to do to file correct petitions," the candidate said, noting he turned in about 1,500 Republican signatures. "If Mr. McGrath was lazy enough to not get the petitions done the right way, how is he going to be an assemblyman?"

The Democrat said it wasn't laziness, but demographics that saddled him.

"I worked hard with my county committees and my campaign staff to canvass as many homes as we could," he said. "But the reality is: It's a Republican-dominated district, a rural district and I'm an outsider that no one's heard of. That made the whole process difficult. We worked until the very last day to do that and that's the kind of person I am. I'm going to work as hard as I need to as long as I need to to get the job done."

Mr. McGrath was confident his petitions would withstand any legal challenges.

"I seriously have no doubt that I'll be on the ballot on both lines," he said.