Those Pesky Borderlines

There’s an amusing political story in today’s paper, in among the depressing stuff. The county board of elections has removed two candidates from the ballot. The funny part is the reason why they were removed: State election law requires caucuses to be held within the entity the candidates are seeking to represent.

The county Board of Elections this week knocked two Brewster village trustee candidates off the Conservative line on November’s ballot because the party caucus where they were selected was held outside of the village.

But Southeast Conservative Party Chairman Joseph Berger yesterday said he might go to court to reinstate the two, Jeffrey Rollins, 40, and John “Jack” Ciesielski, 51, to the line. The village is an incorporated part of Southeast and the town parties organize the village caucuses. Berger held his caucus at Sciortino’s Restaurant on Route 22, steps from the village boundary. Two of the village’s 19 registered Conservatives attended. [emphasis mine]

“I’m not saying I was right about it,” Berger said. “But it’s not a grave, grave matter of injustice if you’re only 100 feet away from the village.”