Supervisor may lodge challenge over caucus confusion
Democratic, Republican, and Conservative caucuses to nominate Marbletown candidates for the November general election ballot apparently failed to comply with state Election Law, and current Marbletown Supervisor Michael Warren is considering whether to lodge a legal challenge to those party slates.
The caucuses were conducted at the Rondout Municipal Center, which is about 100 feet over the Marbletown line in the town of Rosendale.
“I have the attorneys looking at it,” said Warren, who lost the Democratic line in the supervisor’s race to Richard Parete.
Ulster County Democratic Board of Election Commissioner Ashley Dittus on Friday acknowledged that state law specifically requires caucuses be conducted within the municipal boundaries where candidates are seeking office.
Dittus, in an email citing the law, said that “under state Election Law ... the term ‘caucus’ shall mean an open meeting held in a political subdivision to nominate the candidates of a political party for public office to be elected in such subdivision at which all the enrolled voters of such party residing in such subdivision are eligible to vote. The meeting needed to be held ... in Marbletown.”
However, Dittus added that the absence of a written complaint about the location within 10 days after party slates were filed left the county with no choice but to certify the candidates. She said Democrats filed their slate on Sept. 5, Republicans on Sept. 8, and Conservatives on Sept. 11.
Chairpersons for the three political parties could not be reached Friday for comment.
Warren, who remains on the ballot under the Working Families Party banner, said the challenge may go to court because the location was not a procedural error. He said that while Marbletown has received state approval to conduct town business in municipal center because the building represents a shared service with Rosendale, the waiver doesn’t extend to Election Law.
“If you violate a procedure about the caucus, there is 10 days to challenge,” he said. “Violating state law could be something different.”