‘Off the ballot’: Queens races become clear after ballot objection rulings

Several Queens candidates were kicked off the ballot following Board of Elections rulings on Monday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

Far from their respective district’s boundaries, several candidates hoping to be elected in Queens had their campaigns brought to an early end by the Board of Elections on Monday.

In a crowded meeting room at the Board of Elections’ Manhattan offices, commissioners and attorneys rattled off cases regarding election petitions from across the five boroughs. Several Queens candidates in Council and judicial races heard their names followed by the words no candidate wants to hear – “off the ballot.”

A handful of candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, had their names taken off the upcoming primary election ballot following objections to their petitions from their opponents, putting an end to their hopes of being elected in 2025, barring a successful appeal.

The BOE’s Monday rulings cleared up the picture of who will – and won’t – be on Queens’ ballots in June, as well as in November.

Following Monday’s hearing, three Republican primaries that previously appeared to be viable contests are no more. The hearing also put to an end a potential Democratic primary in Queens.

The BOE’s hearing also resulted in a few packed races becoming a little less crowded.

In the District 21 race to replace term-limited Councilmember Francisco Moya, Democrat Sandro Navarro had his candidacy officially squashed by the BOE, as did Hiram Monserrate, who already plans to appeal the ruling.

Navarro, who works in the office of State Senator and mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos as a district director, had his petitions objected to by Yanna Henriquez, who is the Queens County Democratic Party’s pick for the seat.

After having a number of signatures from voters his campaign collected invalidated, Navarro fell 174 petitions shy of the required amount.

Monserrate got the boot for an entirely different reason.

The BOE ruled on Monday to side with petition objectors Henriquez and fellow District 21 Democratic hopeful Shanel Thomas-Henry, who argued that Monserrate’s petitions were invalid because of a City Council law on the books specifically designed to stop him from running – thus making him not a valid candidate.

While Monserrate was officially taken off the ballot on Monday, there are two ongoing court cases that may serve as Monserrate’s last shots at potentially getting on the ballot this cycle.

One case is a petition from Monserrate to validate his petitions, the other is a case brought by several of his supporters seeking to toss out the law barring him from running.

A judge has yet to rule on the first case, and the second is pending appeal.

“Today’s outcome was expected,” Monserrate said in a statement to the Eagle. “We look forward to our upcoming day in court.”

If Monserrate is ultimately kept off, the six-person race for the Corona-centered district will drop to four candidates with Henriguez, Thomas-Henry, David Aiken and Erycka Montoya remaining.

In Southeast Queens, there will be no primary in District 27 after the BOE invalidated candidate Vera Daniels’ petitions. She fell 195 petitions short of the needed threshold.

Daniels argued there were “deficiencies” in the claims made against her petitions, and she is “considering [her] options moving forward.”

Daniels’ disqualification means Councilmember Nantasha Williams will not have a primary to retain her Southeast Queens seat.

Queens Civil Court candidate Philip Grant was also eliminated from the ballot on Monday.

The petitions at the heart of the case against Grant included a page of signatures the Eagle found to have several forgeries earlier this month.

Attorneys said in court last week that they believe nearly all the petition signatures on the sheet were fraudulent, and were seeking to invalidate four pages of signatures approved by a single witness.

The other candidates on that sheet – Queens City Council candidate Ruben Wills, public advocate candidate Marty Dolan and comptroller candidate Ismael Malave Perez – were not named in the specific objection.

Wills, who received objections from opponent Tyrell Hankerson’s campaign, will remain in the still-crowded race for term-limited Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ 28th District.

Wills and Hankerson are joined in the race by candidates Japneet Singh, Romeo Hitlall and Latoya LeGrand.

Only Queens Democrats will have to concern themselves with the primary after the BOE’s rulings left no viable Republican primary battles in the borough.

In District 25, Republican candidate Shah Haque had his petitions thrown out, as did District 29’ Supreet McGrath.

Their scheduled opponents Ramses Frias and John David Rinaldi will now run unopposed in June’s primaries. In November, Frias will face off against the winner of the Democratic battle between incumbent Shekar Krishnan’s and insurgent Richard Pacheco, and Rinaldi will face incumbent Lynn Schulman.

In District 21, Republican candidates Joseph Chou and Allen Wang were both kicked off the Republican line, eliminating their primary.

However, Wang will appear on the Conservative Party line for the general election.

Another bunch of Republican candidates had their petitions thrown out, eliminating several would-be general elections in Queens. These include Giovanni Enrique Franco, who would have faced the winner of the District 21 Democratic primary, Bernard Chow, who was trying to run against Councilmember Linda Lee, and Andrew Okunfeff, who was planning to run against Councilmember Jennifer Gutierrez.