GOSHEN – A sitting Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson trustee has been removed from the ballot for having insufficient signatures on her independent nominating petition.
Tiffany Gagliano had filed a lawsuit in Orange County Supreme Court against the Orange County Board of Elections (BOE), Village of Cornwall Clerk and Treasurer Meagan Gschwind, and Victoria Peebles, who objected to her petitions. In her suit, Gagliano requested that the court declare her petitions valid and keep her on the ballot for the March 18 Village election.
However, Supreme Court Justice Kyle McGovern ruled on Monday that there is no basis to declare the objections to Gagliano’s nominating petition invalid, and she is off the ballot. Three candidates remain on the ballot for two Trustee spots: incumbent Lori Beth Paliotta, along with Lisa Silverstone and Brian Mitchell.
Despite the ruling, Gagliano’s attorney, Adam Fusco, said that she is not giving up her bid to remain a trustee.
“Either through a future appellate court order or via a write-in campaign, (Gagliano) will appear on the general election ballot for Cornwall-on-Hudson Village Trustee,” Fusco said.
Fusco argued that the election law required the objector to serve the objections upon his client in a certain way and to file proof of that service. He added that Gagliano didn’t receive notice of the objections in time to defend. The BOE countered that it followed the law and that the matter in this case was governed by a different law than the one that Gagliano’s attorney argued.
Justice McGovern found that the BOE was correct in determining which law applies and found that Gagliano had notice of the objections from the village clerk no later than one hour after they had been filed.
“I’m glad that the Court saw that the candidate received notice, and applied the correct law to this village election, upholding the decision of the bi-partisan Board of Elections to declare her petitions invalid,” said Michael Treybich, a Poughkeepsie election law attorney, who represented Peebles.
Fusco maintains that Gagliano’s petitions for office were ruled invalid even though she never received proper notice of the objections to her candidacy. He added that his client only found out about the objections to her petition after filing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the Village.
“The so-called objector never served my client, and the Village only provided notice after being prompted,” Fusco said. “Ensuring the public’s confidence in elections is integral, and allowing ballot access is a fundamental element of that process. The Election Law and the Constitution demand no less.”
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