Being nine signatures short of the 1,000 needed to enter a primary election may seem trivial in the spirit of civic participation, but when politics is involved, every pen stroke is scrutinized.
Yesterday, Ashley Torres and John Quigley — the Democratic and Republican commissioners, respectively — rejected Alexandria Wojcik’s petition to run for county clerk on the Democratic line, for the moment denying her the opportunity to challenge acting county clerk Taylor Bruck.
Wojcik — New Paltz’s deputy mayor — said she would appeal the ruling and was confident more research would restore enough signatures to qualify for the election.
Of the 1,292 signatures on Wojcik’s petition, Quigley and Torres allege only 991 were valid, meaning nearly a quarter of the signatures collected did not qualify.
The primary election is June 24. Wojcik will need to file a challenge in state Supreme Court by Friday to have a chance at overturning the ruling.