Substitution of Candidate Invalid
The Second Department determined a substitution of a candidate for the county legislature, based on the failure of the initial candidate (Roth) to meet residency requirements, was invalid because the substitution was made by the Committee to Fill Vacancies and not pursuant to Election Law 6-148(3):
The vacancy at issue here was created at the time of Roth’s nomination, when he still did not reside in the district. This constituted a vacancy in nomination rather than in designation. Election Law § 6-148(3) states, in relevant part, as follows: “A vacancy in a nomination made at a primary . . . may be filled by a majority of the members, of the party committee or committees last elected in the political subdivision in which the vacancy occurs.”
Here, since Roth’s disqualification created a vacancy made in a nomination at a primary, any substitution should have been made pursuant to Election Law § 6-148(3), not by the Committee to Fill Vacancies. “After the primary election has been held the committee named in the designating petition has no function and is without authority” … . The “statute is explicit” that the procedure outlined in Election Law § 6-148(3) governs a vacancy in a nomination that has been made at a fall primary … . Since the purported substitution was not made in accordance with Election Law § 6-148(3), it was invalid. Matter of Venditto v Roth, 2013 NY Slip Op 06699, 2nd Dept 10-16-13