On February 23, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, restored John Tabacco to the ballot, in the special election to fill the vacant city council seat, 49th district (Staten Island). The election is February 24.

As a result, the election will be by paper ballot in that district. Tabacco had originally been removed from the ballot because he had chosen a star for his ballot logo (a logo is a simple drawing, on ballots in New York and a few other states because of the desire to help voters who can’t read). The New York law for special elections in New York city council says that candidates must choose a label that doesn’t resemble the name of a qualified party. The Board of Elections in Tabacco’s case had removed him because his logo, the star, is similar to the Democratic Party’s logo in regular elections. But the courts had then ruled in favor of Tabacco, saying that although candidates can’t use the name of a qualified party, the law doesn’t say they can’t use the logo of a qualified party. Then Tabacco had been challenged again on the grounds that he didn’t have enough signatures, and the Supreme Court, trial division, had removed him from the ballot again. But the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court put him back on again, on February 23, because it said the lower court was wrong to consider the issue of how many valid signatures he had; that should have been raised earlier. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Ironically, although Tabacco used the Democratic Party’s logo, he is not a registered Democrat. He is registered in the Independence Party. The 49th district race now has six candidates on the ballot, four of whom are registered Democrats and two of whom are registered in the Independence Party. The other candidate registered in the Independence Party is Paul Saryian. The four Democrats are Deborah Rose, Donald Pagano, Tony Baker, and Ken Mitchell.