- 12 -
Nos. 56 & 58
Ms. Seawright ultimately filed both a cover sheet for her Democratic Party petition
and a certificate of acceptance for her Working Families Party petition on April 2.6
Contrary to the majority’s view (majority op at 5), this Court has never held that the initial
absence of a cover sheet is an uncurable defect. Indeed, Election Law § 6-134 (2) grants
the Board the ability to regulate the requirements for designating petitions as long as the
Board’s requirements are “no more restrictive” than necessary. The statute then instructs
that a candidate must be provided with three business days, once notified, to cure a
violation of the Board’s regulations (Election Law § 6-134 [2]). Moreover, Election Law
§ 6-134, the section of the statute that by its title prescribes the rules for designating
petitions, must be “liberally construed, not inconsistent with substantial compliance thereto
and the prevention of fraud” (Election Law § 6-134 [10]; see also 9 NYCRR 6215.6
[“Except as specifically set forth herein, these rules shall be liberally construed and
technical defects shall be disregarded where there has been substantial compliance and
where a strict construction is not required for the prevention of fraud”]).
The statute on
its face thus requires substantial rather than strict compliance when “no potential for fraud
. . . is apparent” (see Staber v Fidler, 65 NY2d at 535). Here, there have been no allegations
6
The majority contends that Ms. Seawright did not file her cover sheet on time because it
was not received by March 20 (majority op at 2-3), but that is not the law. A candidate
may cure any cover sheet deficiency within three days of being notified by the Board that
such a deficiency exists (9 NYCRR 6215.7[d] [“Cover sheet deficiencies may be corrected
by the filing of an amended cover sheet. A candidate may, within three business days of
the date of a determination that the petition does not comply with these regulations, cure
the violation”]). Because Ms. Seawright was not notified until April 15 of the deficiency
in her cover sheet, she had until April 18 to correct it – long after she had already cured it.
- 12 -