Court to Board of Election: Rent is 2 Damn High Party must appear on 2013 NYC mayoral ballot

NEW YORK - Sept. 24, 2013 - PRLog -- Jimmy McMillan and the Rent is 2 Damn High Party must appear on the ballot for the 2013 New York City Mayoral Election, according to a decision issued by New York State Supreme Court Judge, Paul Wooten.  The decision overrules the Board of Election’s determination that neither Mr. McMillan nor the Rent is 2 Damn High Party could appear on the ballot.

The law firm of Imbesi Christensen filed a petition on behalf of Mr. McMillan, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, after receiving notice from the Board of Election that the Party and Mr. McMillan would not appear on the 2013 New York City mayoral ballot due to a clerical error.

To be named on the ballot as a candidate of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party, Mr. McMillan was required to obtain 3,750 signatures from prospective voters and submit a document indicating the number of signatures obtained ("Cover Sheet"). Mr. McMillan submitted 10,253 valid signatures, separated into 15 volumes.  Each volume contained approximately 800 signature pages and was assigned a 9 character code.

Mr. McMillan initially submitted a Cover Sheet that contained 15 volume codes, representing over 11,000 signatures.  The Board of Election notified Mr. McMillan that 2 of the volumes contained errors and that he was required to submit an Amended Cover Sheet to correct the defects.

On the Amended Cover Sheet, Mr. McMillan handwrote the 13 volume codes written on the original Cover Sheet and omitted the 2 volume codes that were defective.  While copying the volume codes from the original Cover Sheet to the Amended Cover Sheet, Mr. McMillan wrote the incorrect volume code for 1 volume.  The remaining 12 volume codes were copied correctly.

The correct volume code was “NY1301489.”  Mr. McMillan accidentally wrote “NY1301498,” which was incorrect.  The Board of Election determined that the error was “fatal” and notified Mr. McMillan that neither the Rent is 2 Damn High Party or he would appear on ballot for the 2013 New York City Mayoral Election.

The Board of Election filed a motion to dismiss Mr. McMillan’s petition, claiming, in part, that that the error was “fatal” and should prevent both the Rent is 2 Damn High Party and Mr. McMillan from appearing on the ballot; Judge Wooten disagreed.

In his decision, granting Mr. McMillan’s petition, Judge Wooten set forth that his error in transposing “a 98 instead of an 89” was too minor to constitute removal from the ballot based upon applicable law.  Judge Wooten also cited the fact that Mr. McMillan obtained 10,253 valid signatures, when only 3,750 were required.

Referencing the 10,253 people who signed a petition for the Rent is 2 Damn High Party, Judge Wooten acknowledged that if he did not allow the Party to appear on the ballot, there could be a “drastic disenfranchisement of the right to vote of the 10,253 people who exercised their right to vote by signing an independent nominating petition” for the Rent is Too Damn High Party.

The case is James Earl McMillan, III a/k/a/ Jimmy McMillan v. Commissioners of Elections of the City of New York, Board of Election in the City of New York,  Index No. 101243/13. A copy of Judge Wooten’s decision can be obtained from Imbesi Christensen’s website.

All communication regarding the decision should be made to attorney Kevin Johnson.

Imbesi Christensen

450 Seventh Avenue, 14^th Floor

New York, NY 10123

(212) 736-0007

www.lawicm.com