Judge denies late request to remove candidate from mistaken ballot line in 18th Congressional District race

A state Supreme Court judge on Thursday rejected a last-minute request to alter ballots in New York's 18th Congressional District race to remove a third-party candidate from a ballot line he was mistakenly given.

Republican candidate Chele Farley argued in court papers filed on Monday - after two days of early voting already had taken place - that election officials incorrectly placed Scott Smith on the Libertarian Party line in addition to the Save America Movement line. Her campaign asked the court to order county election boards to remove Smith from the Liberterian line, not count votes for him on that line, and issue corrected ballots.

Smith agreed he didn't deserve the Libertarian line and submitted a court statement in support of Farley's request that his name be removed from that line. According to his attorney, Smith submitted a petition to run on the Libertarian line and assumed it was discounted after the Libertarian Party declined to endorse a candidate in the race. 

Justice Mary Smith of Westchester County ruled on Thursday that Farley had waited too long for her challenge, saying the ballot was made public on Sept. 8 and Farley first questioned it with a letter to the state Board of Elections on Oct. 15. 

"In a word, petitioner slept on her rights," the judge wrote.

Farley and Smith are challenging four-term Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney for New York's 18th Congressional District, which takes in all of Orange and Putnam counties and parts of Dutchess and Westchester.

Nine days of early voting began in New York on Oct. 24 and will conclude on Sunday, two days before Election Day.

cmckenna@th-record.com