MATTER OF WERNER v. Castiglione

• Decision Date: 23 August 2001
• Citation: 729 N.Y.S.2d 227,286 A.D.2d 553
• Parties: In the Matter of DIETRICH WERNER, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>HARRY M. CASTIGLIONE et al., as Commissioners of the Ulster County Board of Elections, Respondents, and MARK J. BRANDHOFER, Appellant. (Proceeding No. 1.)<BR>In the Matter of TERENCE CARLE, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>HARRY M. CASTIGLIONE et al., as Commissioners of the Ulster County Board of Elections, Respondents, and DOMINICK VANACORE, Appellant. (Proceeding No. 2.)
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

286 A.D.2d 553

729 N.Y.S.2d 227

In the Matter of DIETRICH WERNER, Respondent,

v.HARRY M. CASTIGLIONE et al., as Commissioners of the Ulster County Board of Elections, Respondents, and MARK J. BRANDHOFER, Appellant. (Proceeding No. 1.)

In the Matter of TERENCE CARLE, Respondent,

v.HARRY M. CASTIGLIONE et al., as Commissioners of the Ulster County Board of Elections, Respondents, and DOMINICK VANACORE, Appellant. (Proceeding No. 2.)

Decided August 23, 2001.

Cardona, P. J., Mercure, Crew III, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ., concur.

Per Curiam.

Initially, we have considered and reject the necessary party argument. Turning to the merits, the opportunity to ballot petitions in these proceedings contain the appropriate form for the appointment of a Committee to Receive Notices, but the space for the names and addresses of the appointees in each petition is blank. Prior to the Election Reform Act of 1992 (L 1992, ch 79), the absence of a Committee to Receive Notices was a fatal defect (see, Matter of Krupczak v Mancini, 153 AD2d 785), as was the absence of a Committee to Fill Vacancies in a designating petition (see, Matter of Richter v Thaler, 11 NY2d 722). However, Election Law § 6-134, which contains the rules for designating petitions, now specifically provides that "the failure to list a committee to fill vacancies * * * shall not invalidate the petition unless a vacancy occurs which, under law, may be filled only by such a committee" (Election Law § 6-134 [8]). By amending the Election Law to so provide, "the Legislature has made clear that it does not deem a Committee to Fill Vacancies an essential element of a designating petition [and t]hus, a candidate's failure to list a Committee to Fill Vacancies on some or all of * * * his designating petition[s] will not invalidate the petition when no vacancy has occurred" (Matter of Pascazi v New York State Bd. of Elections, 207 AD2d 650, 652, lv denied 84 NY2d 802).

There is, however, no parallel provision excusing the absence of a Committee to Receive Notices in an opportunity to ballot petition. Although Election Law § 6-166 (2) provides that the form for the appointment of a Committee to Receive Notices shall be the same as the form for the appointment of a Committee to Fill Vacancies in a designating petition, the two committees, as a substantive matter, serve entirely separate and distinct purposes. Accordingly, we conclude that the absence of a Committee to Receive Notices is not subject to the provision of the ...