The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the designating petition should not have been invalidated. One of the signatories to the petition had apparently signed on her husband’s behalf because his hands were weak. The wife put her initials next to the signature and testified her husband had given her permission to sign and she had the authority to sign pursuant to a power of attorney. Supreme Court struck all signatures on the relevant page. The Fourth Department held that, at most, only the one signature should have been struck:
… [T]he use of a proxy to sign the purported signatory’s name was apparent from the face of the petition sheet. Even assuming, arguendo, that the signature was invalid, we conclude that, in the absence of any hidden infirmity in the petition sheet or in the subscribing witness statement that would potentially “confuse, hinder, or delay any attempt to ascertain or to determine the identity, status, and address” of any signatory or witness … , the court improperly struck the entire page on which the signature appeared … . Only the invalid signature should have been stricken under the circumstances of this case, leaving respondent with 347 signatures, one more than the required 346 … . Matter of Van Der Water v Czarny, 2017 NY Slip Op 06408, Fourth Dept 9-6-17
ELECTION LAW (DESIGNATING PETITION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INVALIDATED, WIFE SIGNED FOR HUSBAND WHO WAS PRESENT, AT MOST ONLY THE ONE SIGNATURE SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRUCK, NOT THE ENTIRE PAGE OF SIGNATURES (FOURTH DEPT))/DESIGNATING PETITION (ELECTION LAW, DESIGNATING PETITION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INVALIDATED, WIFE SIGNED FOR HUSBAND WHO WAS PRESENT, AT MOST ONLY THE ONE SIGNATURE SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRUCK, NOT THE ENTIRE PAGE OF SIGNATURES (FOURTH DEPT))/SIGNATURES (ELECTION LAW, DESIGNATING PETITION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INVALIDATED, WIFE SIGNED FOR HUSBAND WHO WAS PRESENT, AT MOST ONLY THE ONE SIGNATURE SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRUCK, NOT THE ENTIRE PAGE OF SIGNATURES (FOURTH DEPT))