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Nos. 56 & 58
information therein is true and correct (Election Law § 6-132 [2]). Each volume of a
petition must be separately bound (9 NYCRR 6215.1 [c]).
The Board provides a simple form cover sheet for candidates to use (9 NYCRR
6215.8). The Board’s regulations require these cover sheets to contain the office and
district number of the designation the candidate seeks; the name and address of the
candidate; and the number of volumes in the petition (9 NYCRR 6215.2 [a] [1]). The only
information on the cover sheet not readily determinable from the petition itself is the
identity and contact information for the candidate’s representative whom the Board should
contact in case of an irregularity in the petition (9 NYCRR 6215.2 [a] [4]). The cover sheet
also contains a statement of the total number of signatures contained in the petition, but an
incorrect count on the cover sheet is not a fatal defect (9 NYCRR 6215.2 [a] [3]; Staber v
Fidler, 65 NY2d 529, 535 [1985]).
Likewise, the Board provides a simple form certificate of acceptance for candidates.
The certificate of acceptance is not required for the party in which the candidate is a
member; it is required only when another party designates the candidate on its ballot line
or if the candidate is designated “by an independent body alone” (Election Law § 6-146
[1]). The sole purpose of the certificate of acceptance, then, is to make certain that a
candidate wishes to accept the designation of a party in which the candidate is not a
member. The fraud or impropriety it might avoid is a circumstance in which a party wishes
to nominate a person who does not want to appear on that party’s ballot line. That
circumstance is not present here, and the late filing of such a certificate can in no way
undermine the certificate’s purpose.
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