Candidates collect ballot spots for November
Supervisor candidate Glenn Waddington and Town Board candidate Paul Shepherd last week filed nominating petitions with the Suffolk County Board of Elections to win independent lines on the town election ballot on November 8. Both have the Conservative Party line.
Meanwhile, the statewide Independence Party and the Working Families Party made Shelter Island endorsements this summer.
The Independence Party is backing six candidates here — the entire Democratic slate — and the Working Families Party backed three, two of them also Democratic nominees.
Supervisor Jim Dougherty, candidate for reelection on the Democratic line, won the backing of both statewide parties, as did the Democratic candidate for Town Board, Ian Weslek.
The Independence Party also backed Democratic candidates Dan Fokine for Town Board and Jay Card Jr. for highway superintendent as well as the unopposed candidates for tax receiver and town assessor, Nancy Kotula and BJ Ianfolla, who have the Democratic, Republican and Conservative endorsements as well as that of the Independence Party. Assessor Al Hammond has those endorsements as well as the Working Families line.
If the Conservatives win second lines on the ballot, Bob DeStefano and Will Anderson — the GOP’s candidates for supervisor and Town Board, respectively — will be the only town candidates running on one line. Their runningmate, Councilman Peter Reich, also has the Conservative Party endorsement.
After the Independence Party and Working Families endorsements were announced earlier this summer, supporters of her party’s candidates collected the signatures necessary to win the ballot lines, said Heather Reylek, chair of the town Democratic Committee.
Mr. Waddington calls his independent slate the Island Unity Party; he needed 74 signatures to qualify for the ballot spot and said he had “stopped at 180” when he and his allies sought signatures.
Mr. Shepherd calls his independent slate the Local Liberty Party — a variation on the Local Liberties name he used in his 2009 race for supervisor. He said had collected about 150 signatures.
Both candidates must wait until any challenges are resolved before the Board of Elections decides whether or not they met the requirements for winning ballot lines in September.
A recent registration tally for Shelter Island showed Republicans still with the most voters here despite steady gains in recent years by Democrats. There were 819 voters registered as Republicans, 779 as Democrats, 553 as blanks and 11 with no registration checked off. There were 122 who identified themselves as independent, 62 as Conservative, 8 as Green Party, 4 as Working Family and 1 as Libertarian.
