Filing Petition Four Hours Late Was Fatal Defect
The Second Department determined that the filing of a petition for an opportunity to ballot more than four hours after the deadline was a fatal defect:
Election Law § 1-106 provides that papers shall be filed with the relevant board of elections between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Moreover, the “failure to file any petition or certificate relating to the designation or nomination of a candidate for party position or public office . . . within the time prescribed by the provisions of this chapter shall be a fatal defect” (Election Law § 1-106[2]). “[T]he case law interpreting Election Law § 1-106(2) and its predecessor, Election Law former § 143(12) (as amended by L 1969, ch 529, § 1), makes it clear that such time limitations are mandatory in nature, and the judiciary is oreclose[ed] . . . from fashioning exceptions, however reasonable they might be made to appear’”… . Matter of Rhoades v Westchester County Bd of Elections, 2013 NY Slip Op 05656, 2nd Dept 8-15-13