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One signature nearly made a world of difference when it comes to the November local election in the City of Peekskill.

Ramon Fernandez announced on Friday, June 27, that his name will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot for mayor under The Local Party line. This comes after a successful challenge in court over a signatures on his petition. 

Fernandez, a current Common Council member, will be challenging Democratic incumbent Mayor Vivian McKenzie, who secured endorsement by the Peekskill Democratic City Committee (PDCC) over Fernandez this past January.

“I am very positive with faith and everything,” Fernandez told the Peekskill Herald. “And so thankful for the hundreds and hundreds of people who signed the petition, the dozens of people who carried the petitions and very positive to see how we can improve the service in the city in the next term.”

An objection to Fernandez’s petitions from the chair of the PDCC nearly prevented him from appearing on the ballot for the upcoming general election.

Fernandez collected a total of 443 signatures on a petition to be on the ballot.  The minimum number of signatures required to appear on the November ballot is 316.  After objections to the signatures were made by PDCC Chair Steve Kollias, the Westchester County Board of Elections ruled on June 18 that Fernandez’s petition did not have enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot.

Of the 443 signatures filed on Fernandez’s petition, 128 objections were sustained, leaving Fernandez with 315 valid signatures, just short of one valid signature to be on the ballot.

Those objections included 55 not registered signatures, 10 not registered from the address given, two duplicate signatures on the same petition, eight who previously signed another petition, four alternations not dated or initialed, and 49 statements of witness defective.

A statement of witness defective means that there was something wrong with the witness statement, Whitney Felder of the Westchester County Board of Elections told the Herald. Examples can include a witness who didn’t initial an alteration or didn’t fill in their address.

However, after Fernandez contested the ruling on the PDCC’s objections at the White Plains Supreme Court on June 20 with several supporting affidavits, a judge ordered his name to be put back on the ballot.

The reason given for reinstatement is that both Fernandez’s and PDCC’s attorneys agreed to a stipulation dated June 24 that declared Fernandez’s nominating petition valid and directed the Board of Elections to include Fernandez’s name.

The stipulation stated the Commissioners of the Westchester County Board of Elections, Douglas Colety and Tajian Nelson, take no position regarding the stipulation.

Fernandez’s attorney, Thomas Abinanti, told the Herald that the Board of Elections “erroneously” eliminated several of the signatures. 

“The Board of Elections found that [Fernandez] was short one signature. We had evidence of 25 more valid signatures,” Abinanti said. 

In court documents, Abinanti said that the claimed alterations were not alterations; that the incorrect towns listed on two witnesses were an “inconsequential error;” and that signatures of Peekskill residents registered at their former address in Peekskill were valid.

Abinanti told the Herald the law requires that people can sign Fernandez’s petition as long as they registered to vote in Peekskill and are living in Peekskill. Residents who registered and voted in an election, then moved within Peekskill, do not have to re-register to sign a petition as long as they put down their present residence, he said.

The Westchester County Clerk’s office did not respond for comment as of this writing.

Kollias declined to comment on why he and the PDCC attorney, Jeffrey Gasbarro, did not move forward with the case.

“It was only after Councilman Fernandez desperately worked to clean up his own mess that the Courts barely allowed him back on the ballot,” Kollias told the Herald in a statement. “The choice for who will be mayor is now with residents of Peekskill, and they know they have a serious leader and champion in Mayor Vivian McKenzie which is why come Election Day she will prevail.”

McKenzie previously told the Herald she planned to continue focusing on key areas such as economic development, quality of life, climate resiliency, community policing and affordable housing.

Fernandez, a part-owner of Rio Taxi and taxi driver, told the Herald some of his key campaign issues were the city being more accountable in control of its funds, potholes, sidewalks, littering, and having a City Hall that responds better to those coming with concerns and issues.

“There will be options, there will be democracy,” Fernandez said of the upcoming election. “It is time [to] improve a lot of things in Peekskill, improve service. I want to say thank you to all the voters who signed a petition and believed in this.”

Republican candidates run for Council after independent ballot removed

While Fernandez was not removed from the ballot, the PDCC chair was successful in removing one petition from the November ballot.

That was Elena Muniz-Walker and Garrett Dowd’s petition for the Common Council under the independent Common Sense line. While Muniz-Walker and Dowd have been removed from that line, they remain on the November ballot under the Republican line.

For their Common Sense line petition, both candidates received the 316 minimum signatures required to appear on the November ballot. However, as a result of the objections, the Board of Elections ruled on June 18 they did not have enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot under the Common Sense Independent line. 

Of the 340 signatures filed on Muniz-Walker and Dowd’s petitions, 54 objections were sustained, leaving the petition with 286 valid signatures. 

Objections included 14 not registered signatures, four not registered from address given, one duplicate signature on the same petition, 33 previously signed another petition, and two alterations not dated or initialed.

“It was a disappointing event,” Dowd told the Herald. “Politics is playing hard ball. I’m disappointed. There was a counter challenge. But the result was our names were removed from that line.”

There are three open seats on the Common Council held by Dwight Douglas, Robert Scott, and Ramon Fernandez, each who are not running for re-election.

The two Republicans — Muniz-Walker and Dowd — will face off against a slate of Democratic candidates endorsed by the Peekskill Democratic City Committee. The slate is former councilman Darren Rigger, Beverley Chang and Charles DiGruccio. 

Both Muniz-Walker and Dowd declined to comment on their campaign and said they were not yet ready to make a statement.

Muniz-Walker previously announced her campaign for the Peekskill Common Council on the Lee Brown YouTube channel on March 27 in which she was interviewed by Peekskill resident Leesther Brown about her background, key issues, and what she brought to the table. She also referenced her campaign at the Peekskill Herald’s traffic and safety forum on June 21.

Muniz-Walker is an independent advocate assisting adults and parents of children with disabilities in obtaining services for education or other programs and Dowd is a consultant attorney and corporate legal specialist according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.

Marty Walsh, the head of the Peekskill Republicans which endorsed Muniz-Walker and Dowd, told the Herald he believed it was important for there to be differing opinions on the council, which is currently all Democratic.

“I don’t like to play partisan politics or anything. I voted Democrat plenty of times,” Walsh said. “I’d like to just maybe get a different opinion on the council, at least one, maybe two so you can get a better rounded view of the planning of the city, of the direction we’re going. Because right now everything’s been rubber stamped and this has been the concerns of quite a few Peekskill residents here, Democrats as well,” explained Walsh.