FAILURE TO STRICTLY COMPLY WITH SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS IN THE VILLAGE LAW REQUIRED INVALIDATION OF REFERENDUM PETITION.
The Second Department determined failure to strictly comply with the signature requirements in the Village Law invalidated a referendum concerning the elimination of paid fireman positions:
Village Law § 9-902(8) states: “Petition shall be made upon white paper containing the signatures of qualified electors of the village. The sheets of such a petition shall be numbered consecutively beginning with number one at the foot of each sheet. Such petition must set forth in every instance the correct date of signing, the full name of the signer, his present residence, the ward if any and the village election district if any. A signer need not himself fill in the date, residence, ward, or election district” … . The respondents/defendants do not dispute that their referendum petitions failed to set forth the village election district for all but 5 of the 4,254 signatories. * * *
The Court of Appeals has held that, “[w]hile substantial compliance is acceptable as to details of form, there must be strict compliance with statutory commands as to matters of prescribed content” … . Here, the prescribed content includes the village election district, which is a matter of substance, not form … . Matter of Pilla v Karnsomtob, 2016 NY Slip Op 06142, 2nd Dept 9-26-16
MUNICIPAL LAW (FAILURE TO STRICTLY COMPLY WITH SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS IN THE VILLAGE LAW REQUIRED INVALIDATION OF REFERENDUM PETITION)/VILLAGE LAW (FAILURE TO STRICTLY COMPLY WITH SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS IN THE VILLAGE LAW REQUIRED INVALIDATION OF REFERENDUM PETITION)/REFERENDUM (FAILURE TO STRICTLY COMPLY WITH SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS IN THE VILLAGE LAW REQUIRED INVALIDATION OF REFERENDUM PETITION)/PETITIONS (REFERENDUM, VILLAGE LAW, FAILURE TO STRICTLY COMPLY WITH SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS IN THE VILLAGE LAW REQUIRED INVALIDATION OF REFERENDUM PETITION)