I am running for Member of the New York City Council from the 39th Council District in Brooklyn. This is my second campaign—and the second time I’ve had to fight just to stay on the ballot. The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) has once again tried to disqualify me on a technicality, continuing a troubling pattern of undermining grassroots candidates and favoring establishment-backed ones.
In my first campaign, I was kicked off the ballot simply because my cover sheet said I was running for “NYC City Council” instead of the official phrase, “Member of the New York City Council.” Despite this obvious redundancy, I was disqualified. Because I was improperly advised by an attorney on the timing of court filings, I was not able to challenge the decision and get back on the ballot.
This year, the BOE tried again—this time, citing a typo: one volume of my petitions had the wrong ZIP code. But I was ready. I took the matter to court, followed every step required, and I was reinstated. Why did it have to come to that?
As Nickie Kane, a Brooklyn candidate and activist, writes in her recent post “Petitions, Puppies, and Sex and the City”:
“The NYC Board of Elections has a long history of invalidating petitions on the flimsiest of grounds… [it] serves not as a gatekeeper for democracy, but as a wall against it.”
In 2018, City & State ran an exposé titled “Candidate Kicked Off the Ballot? It All Happens in This Room”, detailing how the BOE regularly knocks candidates off the ballot over things like staple placement or margins—technicalities the courts have repeatedly ruled should not be grounds for disqualification.
“These disqualifications often happen in a tiny office filled with outdated scanners and overworked staffers… far from the public eye,” City & State reported. “It’s not about democracy. It’s about control.”
This pattern reveals a deeper problem: The political parties in New York want to keep a tight grip on who can run—and win. That’s why the BOE, which is managed by appointees from the Democratic and Republican parties, continues to play gatekeeper in ways the courts have already said are wrong. This isn’t just about paperwork—it’s about power.
When only party-backed candidates make it onto the ballot, we all lose. The public doesn’t get to choose from a diverse field of voices. Instead, we’re stuck with insiders loyal to the same institutions that silence outsiders like me. Party candidates are often more accountable to party leaders than to the people who vote for them.
It’s time for the BOE to stop these games. It’s time to put voters—not party bosses—back in charge.
We need independent candidates. We need electoral reform. And we need to make sure that no one gets kicked off the ballot for a typo, a missing staple, or a ZIP code.
Democracy should not be decided in the backrooms of the BOE. It should be decided at the ballot box.
