Progress 4 Peekskill Petition Failures Yield Fuzzy GOP Math

On 7 Oct the official website of Peekskill’s Grand Old Party www.peekskillgop.com posted a statement re the “Progress 4 Peekskill” petition disqualification.  It reads in part, “… a grass roots petition drive to acquire an independent line in the upcoming Peekskill election has been negated as the County Board of Elections has determined that the valid number of signatures fell about 30 names short of what was required.”

The Progress 4 Peekskill petition drive did fail, but not by “about 30 votes.”  The day before the GOP posted their statement, the Westchester County Board of Elections sent out the following information, signed by both the Dem and GOP Deputy Commissioners: “The petition as filed contained 293 signatures.  This board sustained 118 objections leaving a total of 175 valid signatures.  Inasmuch as 264 signatures are required the petition is ruled invalid.”  Among the flaws were signatures from persons who were "not registered, not registered from address given, residence not in political subdivision, unidentifiable by name/address, duplicate signature same petition, previously signed another petition, witnessed own signature, witness not registered."

Lay aside all of the technicalities of New York's famously complicated election laws.  Let's just help the Peekskill Republicans with their arithmetic.  The number of valid signatures fell 89 short of the minimum required. Math was never my strong suit, but I’m thinking “about 30” is not a valid approximation of 89.