Petitions filed by the Vote For Babylon party have been ruled deficient by the Suffolk County Board of Elections and the names of the candidates — Kathy Hoffman for Mayor as well as Kelly Peckholdt, TJ Golub and Aidan Lyons for Trustee — will not appear on the printed ballot in the Babylon Village election on March 16th. The party used the wrong forms when collecting signatures for their nomination, which was considered a sufficient objection.

The decision was signed by Commissioner Anita S. Katz and Deputy Commissioner Erin McTiernan,

Here are the relevant meeting notes from the February 17th meeting

BOARD OF ELECTIONS, SUFFOLK COUNTY, NEW YORK

A special meeting of the Board of Elections (“Board”) in and for the County of Suffolk, State of New York, was held at the office of the Board of Elections, Yaphank, New York at 3:00 P.M., on February 17, 2021 with Democratic Commissioner Anita S. Katz and Deputy Republican Commissioner Erin McTiernan both present.

The purpose of this meeting was to rule on the General Objection and Specifications of Objections made to a Village Designating Petition pertaining to a Village Election to be held on March 16, 2021 in the Village of Babylon, Town of Babylon, County of Suffolk, State of New York. Said Objection and Specifications of Objections were forwarded to the Board by Jean Marie Parker, Babylon Village Clerk on February 10, 2021, pursuant to §15-108(10) of the New York State Election Law.

Commissioner Katz made the following motion:

WHEREAS: A Village Designating Petition purporting to nominate as candidates of the Vote for Babylon Party, Kathy Hoffman for the public office of Mayor, Aidan Lyons for the public office of Trustee, Kelly Peckholdt for the public office of Trustee and Ti Golub for the public office of Trustee was filed with and accepted by the Village Clerk on February 2, 2021; and

WHEREAS: On February 10, 2021, Jean Marie Parker, Village Clerk, forwarded to the Board a General Objection and Specifications of Objections to the Village Designating Petition which were timely filed by Paul M. Cannella for a determination on the objections; and

WHEREAS: Pursuant to New York Election Law §15-108(3)(a), only official party designations for elective offices shall be made on a designating petition; and

WHEREAS: The Vote for Babylon Party is not an official party as defined by New York Election Law §1- 104(3) but rather is an independent body as that term is defined in New York Election Law §1-104(12); and

WHEREAS: Pursuant to New York Election Law §15-108(4) independent nominations for elective village offices shall be made on a Village Independent Nominating Petition “containing the signatures in ink of residents of the village who are registered with the appropriate county board of elections at the time of signing or who are residents of the village who were on the list of registered voters for the last village election in such village” and containing specific language; and

WHEREAS, The aforesaid Objection and Specifications of Objections are found to be sufficient to the extent that a Village Designating Petition which does not contain the mandated language for a Village Independent Nominating Petition was filed and to the extent that the Petition incorrectly states that the Village Election to be conducted on March 16, 2021 is a Primary Election; and

WHEREAS, The remainder of the objections as they relate to the failure to properly set forth the public office being sought, failure to name a committee to fill vacancies and failure to contain an emblem of the party are determined to be insufficient as they do not create voter confusion and do not render the petition fatally defective.