Actress’ petitions declared invalid
Neal says she’ll appeal ruling; fellow independent LaMagna also at risk of being off ballot
The 19th Congressional District nominating petitions for TV actress Diane Neal and fellow independent candidate Dal LaMagna have been ruled invalid due to having insufficient signatures, a state Board of Elections spokesman said Friday.
The candidates have three days to file an appeal. LaMagna said Friday that he was in the process of doing so, while Neal said her appeal had been filed.
LaMagna’s appeal to state Supreme Court is due Monday. Neal said her appeal is to be heard in court on Thursday.
John Conklin, director of public information for the Board of Elections, said commissioners held an impromptu meeting Thursday and made their ruling that LaMagna’s and Neal’s petitions were invalid.
“Unless changed by a judge, they are both off the ballot,” Conklin said.
According to the formal determination, LaMagna filed a petition with 4,235 signatures to appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. Of those signatures, 1,592 were determined to be invalid, leaving him 857 signatures short of the 3,500 necessary to be on the ballot.
Neal filed a petition with 4,181 signatures, but 1,852 were ruled invalid, according
to the determination. That left her 1,171 signatures short of the 3,500 required.
A third independent candidate, Luisa Parker of Sullivan County, had her petitions ruled invalid in early August.
LaMagna, of Clinton, had filed to run on the “Hudson Valley Happiness” line in his bid for the congressional seat currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso. Neal, a Hurley resident who played prosecutor Casey Novak on the TV crime drama “Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit,” filed to be on the “Friends of Diane Neal” line.
“My next step is I’m going to appeal to the state Supreme Court on the basis that I was not properly served the objections in the first place,” LaMagna said.
He said it is a technical argument based on the fact he was served with objections filed against Neal, while she was served with objections filed against his
petitions.
LaMagna said his appeal will be “done carefully and strategically.”
LaMagna noted the independent candidates had only 35 days to collect 3,500 signatures each. He said some were ruled invalid because the person who signed the petition moved within the district and did not update their address with the Board of Elections. Others were determined to be invalid
because a signature was ruled illegible or the person collecting the signatures failed to properly initial changes on the petition, he said.
Neal called the Board of Election’s decision “a bit disappointing,” And, like LaMagna, she raised the issue of the objections to her petitions and his being delivered incorrectly.
She said LaMagna called her after he received her objections to give her a headsup.
Faso, R-Kinderhook, is
seeking a second term representing the 19th District. His election opponents, not including the independents, are Democrat Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck and Green Party candidate Steve Greenfield of New Paltz.
The 19th Congressional District comprises all of Ulster, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego counties; most of Dutchess County; parts of Rensselaer and Montgomery counties; and a small section of Broome County.