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Mamaroneck Democrats Take Ballot Fight to Court

Candidates (L-R) Manny Rawlings, Lou Young, Leilani Yizar-Reid

Three reform Democrats have filed a show-cause order in New York Supreme Court to keep their names on the June 28th Democratic Primary Ballot for Village of Mamaroneck Trustee.

Lou Young, Leilani Yizar-Reid and Manny Rawlings were taken off the ballot Monday following “complex and arcane technical challenges” to their nominating petitions filed by members of the Village of Mamaroneck Democratic Committee, which is running its own “official” slate.  If allowed to stand, the ruling by the Westchester County Board of Elections would allow the Committee to avoid a primary and would remove the only African Americans in the race from the Village ballot. Three of five trustee seats are open this election cycle.

The petition challenge, signed by village party functionaries Robert Stark and Greta Heaney, sought to disqualify all 387 signatures on the nominating ballots for Young, Yizar-Reid, and Rawlings. The Board of Elections denied most of the committee’s challenges but upheld 124 signature objections on mostly technical grounds like listing the office being sought as “Board of Trustees” instead of “Village Trustee.”

The ruling left the Young-Yizar-Reid-Rawlings ticket with 263 unimpeachable signatures, 13 short of the amount required by law. “We’ll be able to show a judge that the people who signed our petitions knew what they were signing and did so enthusiastically,” Lou Young said Thursday.  “These voters should not be disenfranchised because of a cynical use of technicalities. In this primary election we are literally fighting Democrats who don’t believe in democracy.”

Leilani Yizar-Reid says the petition challenge indicates their opponents are afraid of facing the voters. “ I am very saddened by how the Democratic Committee has chosen to handle this whole situation.  I am a registered Democrat in this community and when I humbly declined their endorsement, I was no longer accepted as a Democrat in Mamaroneck. Some members of the committee use it as a platform to pursue their own personal vendettas.”  Running mate Lou Young was more direct: “Leilani and Manny were bold enough to run for office without agreeing to kiss the committee ring. This is an ugly attempt to ‘put them back in their place.’”

Manny Rawlings, the youngest of the three candidates (The campaign slogan is “Three generations, one village”)  called on all trustee candidates from all parties to disavow the petition challenge as an attack on open democracy. “Candidates for public office should not be allowed to hide behind surrogates and hidden operatives. We desperately need transparency in this village and an end to cronyism.”

The case is scheduled to be heard Friday morning, May 6, before Hon. Lewis J. Lubell at the State Supreme Court in White Plains.

theLoop
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Inquiring Mind
May 12, 2022 9:38 AM

For the record, Ms.Yizar-Reid was offered a spot on the endorsed Dem ticket and turned it down. And if Mayor Murphy is so interested in diversity why didn’t he appoint her to the Board of Trustees in January instead of an elderly white man who recently just moved to the Village?

MamkDemsVoice
MamkDemsVoice
May 7, 2022 3:57 PM

There are laws in place to protect the integrity of the electoral process…many rules have been liberalized, but rules to avoid voter confusion and assure authentication have not. There can be no exceptions and the law must be recognized, upheld and honored across the board. 
 
The endorsed Democratic slate, Litman, Natchez and Spatz, and the primary challengers alike, have the assistance of seasoned campaign workers and former party leaders (roles some candidates describe as “party bosses”) who are extremely knowledgeable with the petition process.  
 
It is important to note that the Westchester County Board of Elections ruled that 32.041% of the signatures collected by the Young, Yizar-Reid and Rawlings Campaign were void. The Court did not disagree with the Board of Elections findings but validated their petition on a technicality.  We accept and respect the decision rendered but will not condone or excuse the personal attacks that are being made by those seeking to primary the Democratic slate.  
 
Having accepted the outcome of the Judicial ruling, we look forward to moving the campaign forward and addressing issues important to the Voters of the Village of Mamaroneck.

AD McCoy
AD McCoy
May 7, 2022 3:25 PM

Mamaroneck Dems are quite comfortable being a bunch of racists

Wondering
Wondering
May 6, 2022 3:52 PM

Who is the author of this article? Please provide an accurate byline.

• C O M M U N I T Y • C A L E N D A R •

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