Anthony Miranda Back On Queens Borough President Ballot

QUEENS, NY — Queens borough president hopeful Anthony Miranda is back on the March 24 special election ballot, days after city election commissioners disqualified him for missing information on his paperwork.

Miranda, a former NYPD sergeant who leads the National Latino Officers Association, successfully made his case Monday in New York Supreme Court that the administrative error didn't justify kicking him off the ballot.

"Election laws need to change to support diverse candidates and not discriminate or disenfranchise voters," Miranda said.

Miranda was kicked off the ballot on Jan. 30 for missing information on his paperwork after filing amended documents with the NYC Board of Elections.

His cover sheet, a document summarizing the rest of the candidate's paperwork, didn't include a statement certifying that he was authorized to file an amended cover sheet, election commissioners ruled during a public meeting.

"A technicality should not deprive the electorate of the opportunity to choose who represents them," Angel Cruz, Miranda's attorney, said in a statement.

We are on the ballot! pic.twitter.com/B8izLYBXB5
— Anthony Miranda (@Miranda4Queens) February 3, 2020

To get on the ballot, candidates for elected office have to collect 2,000 petitions from registered voters and send them to the NYC Board of Elections.

Election officials then check that the paperwork meets the board's list of strict rules on everything from how documents should be numbered and fastened to what information must be listed.

In Miranda's case, the Board of Elections never notified him of the omission on his amended paperwork, he said.

Board of Election spokesperson Valerie Vazquez-Diaz did not respond to Patch's request for comment last week on why the agency didn't alert Miranda to the issue.

Miranda was one of four candidates knocked off the ballot.

The March 24 special election to replace Melinda Katz, the newly-elected Queens district attorney, also includes City Council Member Costa Constantinides, former City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, retired Queens prosecutor James Quinn, City Council Member Donovan Richards and businessman Dao Yin.

City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer will also be listed on the ballot, though he dropped out of the race last month, according to the Queens Daily Eagle.