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Despite petitioning through much of the spring, former Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas’ attempts to get on the Democratic primary ballot for city comptroller has been rejected by a Supreme Court judge.
Following two days of hearings, state Supreme Court Justice Mary Smith ruled that Thomas’ petition to overturn the Westchester Board of Elections’ rejection of his nominating committee was not specific enough.
Thomas required 300 valid signatures to get on the ballot, with the former mayor having filed petitions with more than 1,000 last month, hundreds of which were challenged by District leaders John Carlo Bautista and Norina Clowney.
Former Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas will be back in court Monday after the Westchester Board of Elections invalidated his nominating petitions in the race for city comptroller.
The board ruled Friday that Thomas did not qualify for the June 22 Democratic primary after upholding most of the challenges to the signatures his campaign collected to get on the ballot.
Thomas submitted 1.002 signatures, far more than the 300 he needed. But two district leaders, John Carlo Bautista and Norina Clowney, challenged 744 and 791 of the signatures, respectively. The challenges alleged a variety of violations, from signers not being registered Democrats as required to illegible signatures.