UES Lawmaker Kicked Off Ballot After Filing Error

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An incumbent Upper East Side lawmaker may be barred from running for reelection this year after being removed from the ballot Tuesday by the city Board of Elections over a filing mistake.

Board of Elections Commissioners voiced no objections Tuesday to motions to remove State Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright from the Democratic and Working Families Party lines for the upcoming election for New York's 76th Assembly District, which spans portions of the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island. The board voted to knock the incumbent off the ballot for failing to file cover sheets with her petitions and for failing to file the documents by the proper deadlines.

Deadlines to file petitions were moved up by an executive order passed in March by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The order also reduced the number of petition signatures needed for candidates to qualify.

Lawyers representing Seawright said that the petitions should be valid because all the needed documents were file, but admitted that the documents were late, attorney Greg Soumas said Tuesday. Soumas also noted that Seawright battled a "coronavirus" symptoms in March.

"Ms. Seawright, who was in Albany, did in fact have coronavirus symptoms. That actually led to her failure to file this certificate of acceptance on or before March 24," Soumas said Tuesday.

Lawyers representing Republican candidate Louis Puliafito argued that the board should remove Seawright from the ballot because as an incumbent she should have been aware of the filing requirements.

"This is an incumbent that actually knows the rules," Puliafito's attorney Ezra Glaser said.

Glazer added that the argument that Seawright was suffering from coronavirus symptoms isn't valid, saying: "I mean this board has not made any exceptions for people that have had cancer or were on their death beads."

Seawright, who was first elected to represent the 76th District in the State Assembly in 2014, plans to mount a legal challenge against the ruling, the New York Post first reported. The incumbent is also gathering signatures to appear as an Independent, a move that's been disallowed by Cuomo's executive order.

"My Republican opponent’s backdoor effort to sabotage my supporters will not prevail. I am already in court to have the board’s ruling thrown out and to reinstate me to the ballot," Seawright told the Post.