The three main Democratic candidates for the open congressional district in northeastern Queens should all easily clear the 938 signature threshold necessary to appear on the Democratic primary ballot on June 26th, according to the totals reported by their campaigns this evening. The deadline to submit these petitions is midnight tonight.
Signatures are often trumpeted by campaigns as a sign of organizational strength, a possible indicator of the vote yet to come. On the other hand, this number can sometimes be misleading as the quality of the signatures — the likelihood that the vast majority of them will stand up under scrutiny — can often be more important than the raw number.
Anyway, the signature tallies the campaigns reported to The Politicker stand up as follows:
- Assemblywoman Grace Meng: 4,300+
- Assemblyman Rory Lancman: 4,156
- Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley: About 2,700
Both Ms. Crowley’s and Ms. Meng’s campaigns stressed that their signatures came exclusively from the efforts of unpaid volunteers.
It’s not immediately clear how second or third tier candidates in the race, like Board of Elections employee Jeff Gottlieb or mystery candidate Dr. Robert Mittman, will fair should their signatures be challenged, but Mr. Gottlieb, at least, is in charge of his local Democratic club’s petitioning efforts and could be considered more likely to make his way onto the ballot than a random political neophyte.
