Who will make it on the ballot? Petitioning begins for 15 Queens council seats

A relic from the November general election outside Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood. Photo by David Brand

By David Brand

Some 126 candidates vying for 15 Queens council seats have 19 days to get 270 signatures.

And then it’s time to see who actually makes it on the ballot.

Petitioning for New York’s municipal primaries kicked off Tuesday, with candidates and their teams hitting the streets to collect enough signatures from district voters to qualify for the June ballot.

Candidates for city council need 270 signatures from registered Democrats or Republicans who live in their district in order to qualify for the ballot. As a general rule, candidates seek three times the minimum number of signatures to guard against disqualifications.

Several candidates — but certainly not all of them — have pledged not to challenge the petitions submitted by their competitors. That means their election lawyers won’t try to kick rivals off the ballot by exposing ineligible signatures, like the names of people who are not registered to vote in the primary or who live outside the district.

Candidates for citywide office, like the roughly 40 people running for mayor, need 2,250 signatures from New York City voters registered with their corresponding political party to make it on the primary ballot.