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Memorandum Question: You have asked about the validity of certain nominating petitions delivered to your office on April 30, 2008 for two candidates for the Salamanca CSD Board of Education twenty days prior to the election. You have stated that the petitions appear to provide the proper information and signatures except that the blank petitions were not obtained from your office prior to the signatures being obtained as is usually done. Conclusion: It appears that there is no requirement in State law that candidates for positions on a board of education first obtain a blank petition from the District Clerk before obtaining the necessary signatures, notwithstanding any district custom or policy to the contrary. As long the petitions provide the necessary signatures and information required by statute, they should not be rejected. We have reviewed Education Law §§2608 and 2121 regarding nominating petitions in small city school districts and district clerk duties. See sections attached. We have also searched for any applicable cases and State regulations pertaining to this question and found none. Moreover, where any ambiguity in procedure exists, the Courts lean in favor of candidates and do not tend to disqualify them on the basis of minor technical errors. Background and statement of issue: I did have two residents turn in completed nominating petitions yesterday that I was completely unaware of their candidacy. It looks like they took one of my other candidate’s petitions & whited out that candidate’s name & address and used my form. I informed them about the 3 legal statements that are required (one was due yesterday); gave them pertinent information about a Board of Education Member’s responsibilities, invited them to draw for ballot position today; invited them to participate in our TV program re budget/election. I did express my dismay that I was not able to give them all the information I felt they needed before starting off on this campaign. One of them did not even know when the election. Since they used my petition blank, their nominating petitions were accurate & they turned in over 100 signatures.
Applicable Law: § 2608. Nomination and ballot1. Candidates for members of the board of education in a city school district shall be nominated by petition directed to the board of education and signed by at least one hundred persons qualified to vote at school elections in such district. Such petition shall contain the names and residences of the candidates for the vacancies in the board of education to be filled at the annual election. Where a proposition has been adopted by the voters of such district to require that each vacancy on the board of education to be filled shall be considered a separate specific office, a separate petition shall be required to nominate a candidate to each separate office and such petition shall describe the specific vacancy on the board of education for which the candidate is nominated, which description shall include at least the length of the term of office and the name of the last incumbent, if any. Such petitions shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the board of education between the hours of nine a.m. and five p.m., on or before the twentieth day preceding the day of the annual election. The clerk shall refuse to accept petitions signed by an insufficient number of qualified voters, or petitions which are not timely. If a candidate for whom a nominating petition for the office of member of a board of education has been duly filed withdraws such petition, dies or becomes otherwise ineligible to hold such office at a time which is later than fifteen days before the last day for the filing of nominating petitions as provided in this subdivision, the time for filing nominating petitions for such office shall be extended to five p.m. on the fifteenth day after the date on which the candidate withdrew, died or otherwise became ineligible to hold such office, provided that no such nominating petition may be filed after five p.m. on the seventh day preceding the election. 2. The board of education shall cause to be printed official ballots containing the names of all candidates as above provided, except that the board may refuse to have the names of ineligible candidates placed on such ballots. The names of the candidates shall be arranged in the order as determined by the drawing by lot in accordance with the provisions of paragraph b of subdivision two of section two thousand thirty-two of this law. Blank spaces shall be provided so that voters may vote for candidates who have not been nominated for the offices to be filled at such elections. The form of such ballots shall conform substantially to the form of ballots used at general elections as prescribed in the election law. Such ballots shall be printed at the expense of the city school district. 3. There shall be delivered to the inspectors in each school election district on the day of the annual election, before the opening of the polls therein, a supply of such ballots which shall at least equal the number of qualified voters entitled to vote in such district. 4. Such ballots shall have printed thereon instructions as to the marking of the ballots and the number of candidates for the several offices for which a voter is permitted to vote. 5. If official ballots are not furnished as above provided, an election of members of a board of education in a city school district shall not be declared invalid or illegal because of the use of ballots which do not conform to the requirements of this section or of the provisions of the election law, provided the intent of the voter may be ascertained from the use of such irregular or defective ballots and such use was not fraudulent and did not substantially affect the result of the election. § 2121. Duties of district clerk It shall be the duty of the clerk of each school district: 1. To record the proceedings of all meetings of the voters of his district in a book to be provided for that purpose by the district, and to enter therein true copies of all reports made by the trustees to the district superintendent. 2. To give notice, in the manner prescribed by subdivision two of section two thousand one, of the time and place of holding special district meetings called by the trustees. 3. To affix a notice in writing of the time and place of any adjourned meeting in at least five of the most public places of such district, when the meeting shall have been adjourned for a longer time than one month. Such notice shall be so affixed at least five days before the time appointed for such adjourned meeting. 4. To give the required notice of every annual district meeting. 5. To give notice immediately to every person elected or appointed to office of his election or appointment; and also to report to the town clerk of the town in which the schoolhouse of his district is situated, the names and post-office addresses of such officers, under a penalty of five dollars for neglect in each instance. 6. To notify the trustees of every resignation duly accepted by the district superintendent. 7. To keep and preserve all records, books and papers belonging to his office and to deliver the same to his successor. For a refusal or neglect so to do, he shall forfeit fifty dollars for the benefit of the schools of the district, to be recovered by the trustees. 8. In the event that the district shall be dissolved, to deposit the books, papers and records of his office with the clerk of the successor school district. 9. To attend all meetings of the board of trustees when notified, and keep a record of their proceedings in a book provided for that purpose. 10. To call special meetings of the inhabitants whenever all the trustees of the district shall have vacated their office. 11. To immediately notify the county treasurer of the name and address of persons elected to the office of district treasurer, if a treasurer is elected, and to the office of district collector. 12. To receive, keep and preserve any and all records, books and papers of the respective dissolved school districts deposited with him pursuant to section fifteen hundred nineteen of this chapter, and such records together with any records of dissolved school districts heretofore deposited shall be considered to be records of the successor school district. |
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