After a new report from Gothamist and WNYC found Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign submitted forged signatures, Fordham Law Adjunct Professor Jerry H. Goldfeder, director of Fordham Law School’s Voting Rights and Democracy Project, told Gothamist it is “very rare” for repeated instances of fraud to appear on petitions for an incumbent seeking re-election to an office as prominent as mayor of New York City.
Campaign experts said it’s common for some invalid signatures to be collected by candidates seeking to get on the ballot. Many campaigns perform their own spot checks to verify the validity of signatures, said veteran election law attorney Jerry Goldfeder.
But he said it’s “very rare” for repeated instances of fraud to appear on petitions for an incumbent seeking re-election to an office as prominent as mayor of New York City. He said petition problems are more common for new candidates running for lower office.
“ Every now and again, somebody tries to cut corners and they’re generally caught and sometimes those cases are referred to the district attorney or the U.S. attorney, and there are prosecutions,” said Goldfeder, who chairs the American Bar Association’s Election Law Committee.
Read “Forged signatures found on Mayor Adams’ petitions to run as an independent” in Gothamist.