Wrong Form Threatens To Derail Opposing Party In Village Election

BABYLON, NY — The Babylon Village elections are scheduled for March 16, but the major opposing party running four candidates against the incumbents claims they may not make it to the ballot because of a paperwork snafu. A day after the filing deadline, a Babylon Village resident filed a challenge to the official election petition used by the Vote for Babylon candidates because a wrong form was used to collect signatures.

The Vote for Babylon party candidates: are Kathy Hoffman, running for mayor, and TJ Golub, Kelly Peckholdt, and Aidan Lyons running for trustee spots.

On Friday, the party issued the following statement:

"We write today with disheartening news: a neighbor has filed a petition challenging democracy in our Village. Babylon's opportunity to have a choice in the upcoming election is being contested by someone who found that we used a wrong form to collect signatures. We went door to door, business to business, [to] friends [and] neighbors to find the hundreds of residents interested in a choice, but at the end of the day we used form A and not form B. Our mistake."

"For a concerned citizen who has the interest of the community at hand, it would have been helpful to know about this honest and clerical error before the deadline, but the petition was filed the day after the deadline to fix our mistake, essentially assuring that there would be only one slate of candidates on the ballot this year."

The candidates say they are not sure if their names will end up on the printed ballots on March 16.

The Better Babylon party candidates are: Interim Mayor Mary Adams for mayor, Frank Seibert for deputy mayor/trustee, along with Dominic Bencivenga and Anthony Cardali for trustee.

Jean Parker, Babylon Village clerk, responded to a Patch inquiry that she cannot comment on any next steps.