Correction

In a news brief from the MacGuire Benton campaign published last week, it was incorrectly stated that Jennifer Basile—Benton’s opponent in the race for Otsego County clerk—had challenged his nomination petitions to run as a candidate on the Customer Service Independent Party line in the upcoming election. In fact, Ashley Fassett—an employee of the Otsego County Clerk’s Office who is active in Basile’s campaign—filed the general objection with the Otsego County Board of Elections on June 2, citing 205 errors.

At the June 15 Board of Elections hearing, Commissioners Michael Henrici and Lori L. Lehenbauer determined that Benton did not have a sufficient number of signatures to be listed as a candidate for the Customer Service Party in the November 7 election. Seeking to overturn the decision, Benton later filed a court case, Benton v Henrici, which the Supreme Court heard in oral arguments on July 3. Fassett was originally named in the action but removed after the judge determined the case was between Benton and the BOE.

Ultimately, 29 challenged instances in which signatures had been invalidated—because they were printed rather than signed in cursive—were allowed after Benton filed curative affidavits to prove the validity of the printed signatures.

“We filed 1,262 total signatures. 1,115 were ruled valid after the court decision. I needed 1,106 minimum,” said Benton in an e-mail last week.

Supreme Court Justice Hon. Brian D. Burns, in his decision, wrote: “The Board of Elections conducted its review and the Commissioners unanimously ruled that the petitions were invalid because individuals who printed their name on the petition had signed their name in cursive, on the Board of Elections registration from. The court finds that the Otsego County Board of Elections acted entirely properly and in accordance with the law in doing so. The candidate-petitioner, however, filed affidavits in each of the 29 challenged curing this defect.”

Basile said of the case, “I said since the beginning, no matter how the BOE or Supreme Court rules I am happy with decision. It’s a win [for voters] either way.”