Candidates petitioned til the last minute ahead of COVID suspension
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A petitioner dropped off this palm card for Anthony Miranda at a home in Jackson Heights Tuesday afternoon. Photo submitted to the Eagle
By David Brand
Candidates for state office continued seeking signatures to qualify for June primary ballots up until the last minute Tuesday evening, as a statewide petitioning suspension took effect at 5 p.m..
Gov. Andrew Cuomo moved the petitioning deadline from April 2 to Tuesday at 5 p.m. to limit contact between New Yorkers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Though Cuomo also reduced the number of necessary signatures by 70 percent, the change left candidates with little time to secure the necessary signatures to make the ballot.
Attorneys and campaign staffers speaking on background said incumbents and challengers throughout Queens and Brooklyn continued to seek signatures into the afternoon.
A campaign staffer working for Queens Borough President candidate Anthony Miranda knocked on doors in Jackson Heights, soliciting signatures for a slate of candidates backed by the East Elmhurst-Corona Democratic Club. Their presence amid the statewide COVID-19 shutdown irritated at least one tenant who sent the Eagle a photo of the palm card that the campaign staffer left.
Miranda, who signed a letter last week urging Cuomo to halt petitioning, said he had urged “volunteers and our staff to take precautions.”
“There was some miscommunication,” he said. “We had some enthusiastic volunteers.”
Miranda criticized the state for not cancelling petitioning immediately when the city cancelled the special election for Queens borough president Monday.
“If you're in danger where you couldn’t go vote, why not suspend the obligation of getting signatures?” he said.
Miranda is included on a petition with several members of the East Elmhurst-Corona Democratic Club run by former State Senator and Councilmember Hiram Monserrate.
Monserrate was expelled from the senate after he was convicted of a domestic violence-related misdemeanor and later convicted of public corruption stemming from his time in the council. He is running for a seat in the state Assembly, but does not appear on the petition with his club members that was shared with the Eagle. The club did not respond to emails seeking more information.
