Candidate Designating Petition Deemed Invalid Due to Fraud (Unwitnessed Signatures)

The Second Department determined a candidate-designating petition was invalid because the subscribing witness did not in fact witness all of the signatures on the petition. The petition was invalid with respect to the candidate who was aware of the fraud, and the candidates who were not aware of the fraud (because there were not enough signatures after the invalid signatures were struck):

A candidate’s designating petition will be invalidated on the ground of fraud where there is a showing that the entire designating petition is permeated with fraud … , or where the candidate has participated in, or is chargeable with, knowledge of the fraud… , even if there are a sufficient number of valid signatures on the remainder of the designating petition … .

Here, the Supreme Court determined that Shapiro, the subscribing witness with respect to 147 signatures, had fraudulently and knowingly signed and submitted false witness statements, and that Spring [one of the candidates] was a party to the fraud. * * * . Moreover, we agree with the court’s determination that Shapiro fraudulently and knowingly signed and submitted false witness statements . Therefore, the court correctly determined that Spring participated in, and was chargeable with knowledge of, the fraud, and properly granted that branch of the petition which was to invalidate the designating petition as to him … .

However, since the Supreme Court determined that Shapiro’s witness statements on the contested sheets were false, the court erred in denying those branches of the petition which were to invalidate the designating petition as to the other two candidates, Perillo and Milner … .  Shapiro was the subscribing witness with respect to 147 of the 343 total signatures, and her false witness statements render those signatures invalid. Although Perillo and Milner did not engage in candidate fraud, the invalidation of 147 of the 343 collected signatures leaves them with an insufficient number of valid signatures. Thus, the designating petition should have been invalidated with respect to all three candidates … . Matter of Sgammato v Perillo, 2015 NY Slip Op 06630, 2nd Dept 8-19-16