A Queens Supreme Court judge on Thursday slammed the brakes on a high-stakes ballot fight that could knock Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar out of the June Democratic primary. The brief pause hands a starring role to the city Board of Elections and leaves the campaign trail in a holding pattern while both sides press their cases.
Justice Denise Johnson decided to wait for the Board of Elections commissioners to meet before revisiting accusations that some of Rajkumar’s petition signatures were forged, according to amNewYork. Her decision on Thursday means the court will not immediately rule on whether Rajkumar’s name stays on the June 23 ballot.
What the challenger alleges
David Orkin, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed challenger, filed a lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court asking the judge to throw out Rajkumar’s designating petition and block her from the Democratic primary ballot, according to City & State. Volunteers who combed through the petition sheets say they spotted multiple irregularities, and the suit, brought by Brooklyn election attorney Renée Paradis, alleges forged signatures on dozens of pages, as reported by the Queens Daily Eagle.
Board of Elections review and outstanding objections
The city Board of Elections review concluded that Rajkumar collected enough valid signatures to make the June 23 ballot. But the BOE clerk refused to rule on 1,168 forgery objections, saying the office lacked jurisdiction, according to amNewYork. Orkin’s camp says it challenged roughly 2,300 of Rajkumar’s petition sheets and argues that witness statements tied to the alleged irregularities cover a big share of her signature haul.
Rajkumar’s response and what’s at stake
Rajkumar’s campaign has flatly denied any wrongdoing and branded the lawsuit a political stunt, saying the assemblymember turned in far more signatures than required and that the objections are a ploy to distract from her ground game, per City & State. If both the court case and the pending objections hit their mark, the incumbent could, in theory, be bounced from the primary ballot, a rare but not unheard-of twist under New York’s election laws.
Legal context
New York courts have at times removed candidates when a designating petition was deemed “permeated” by fraud, even when the raw signature total met the legal minimum. In past high-profile fights, judges have wiped petitions off the books entirely. One such case in the Bronx saw a longtime state representative removed from the primary ballot after an election fraud ruling, as reported by Gothamist.
What’s next
With the court challenge on pause, the Board of Elections commissioners’ meeting becomes the main event, and their actions could narrow what the judge ultimately has to decide, according to local reporting by the Queens Daily Eagle. Both campaigns say they plan to stay on the trail while the legal wrangling plays out, and election lawyers note that petition battles like this tend to move at warp speed in the final stretch before a primary.
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