ALBANY, New York (WWNY) – Matt Putorti remains a Democratic candidate for one of the north country’s seats in congress, after a hearing Wednesday by the state Board of Elections.
A supporter of another candidate challenged Putorti’s nominating petitions, claiming, among other things, fraud.
The Board of Elections does not rule on questions of fraud, but a hearing officer did invalidate 462 signatures on Putorti’s petitions, leaving him with 1,927 valid signatures, more than enough to remain on the ballot. The numbers were first reported by the Watertown Times and confirmed by the Board of Elections Thursday.
As of now, the primary for congress is set for June 28, though that is highly likely to change because of a court decision Wednesday.
Putorti and Matt Castelli are running in the Democratic primary. Whoever wins goes on to oppose incumbent Elise Stefanik in November.
A Castelli supporter, Jason Clark, filed the objections to Putorti’s petitions. Clark is a member of St. Lawrence County’s Democratic Committee.
He claims that some of the signatures on Putorti’s petitions are fraudulent.
“The fraud was the reason for the objection,” Clark said Thursday.
“I knew going into it that we weren’t going to be able to strike enough signatures, but the public needed to know, law enforcement needed to know there was fraud committed by the Putorti campaign. In that regard, I think the objection was successful.”
Clark said he is still considering whether to turn over the fraud allegations to the New York State Attorney General or the Clinton County District Attorney or both. He said he expects to make a decision by the end of next week.
Clark also denied he has accused Putorti’s mother of fraud. He said he challenged a signature she witnessed which was illegible.
(Politicians have to collect signatures on petitions in order to get on the ballot. Those signatures have to be witnessed.)
We’ve reached out to the Putorti campaign for comment and will update this story once we have it.
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