Mike Anthony, the former chairman of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee, filed an objection at the Suffolk County Board of Elections on Friday challenging incumbent Town Supervisor Linda Kabot’s petition to appear on the Integrity Party ballot line in November’s general election.
Ms. Kabot, a Republican, said she had collected 925 signatures—850 were needed—to secure the Integrity Party line, which would give her a second line on the November ballot. But Mr. Anthony is planning to challenge the propriety of some of those signatures, and Ms. Kabot appears ready to fight back, saying that those attempting to block her petition are threatened by her.
“Clearly I am not the puppet of party bosses and union leaders, and my candidacy is perceived as a threat to these people so much so that there have been numerous attempts to block ballot access for my reelection,” Ms. Kabot said in a press release she issued over the weekend.
For a signature to be valid under Board of Election guidelines, it must correspond to the name of a voter registered in Southampton Town who resides at the address given on the petition. And while the signature for the Integrity ballot may be of a voter registered with any party, or with no party, the signature becomes void if it has appeared on a prior petition. Mr. Anthony has until today, August 27, to inform the Board of Elections which signatures he believes should be invalidated. At that point, a bipartisan panel will review the specific objections and make a determination.
If the ruling goes against Ms. Kabot, she may appeal that decision in court.
Mr. Anthony said he was cross-referencing the names on Ms. Kabot’s petition with other filed petitions to see if there are any duplications he can specifically challenge.
The Integrity Party flap is the latest in a string of challenges Ms. Kabot has faced in her reelection campaign. After a round of political musical chairs following the GOP convention in May—during which then Southampton Town Conservative Party Chairman Jim Malone was actually selected to run on the Republican line—Ms. Kabot, poised to force a primary, ultimately garnered the party’s endorsement. But getting the GOP endorsement gave her one ballot line to her challenger’s three. Town Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst has the endorsements of the Democratic, Working Families and Independence parties.
Then, though it had been expected to back Ms. Kabot, the Southampton Town Conservative Party opted not to endorse a candidate for supervisor this year.
While preparing to pore over her petition’s signatures, Mr. Anthony complained that many of them were collected by Ms. Kabot at post offices and supermarkets, which, in Mr. Anthony’s view, are often unreliable locations.
“They are just prone to error because many who sign at those locations are not properly registered,” he said, adding that going “door to door” to actual addresses of listed registered voters is a more reliable method of collecting legitimate signatures.
Mr. Anthony, who said he had seen Ms. Kabot’s petition, commented that the 68 extra signatures Ms. Kabot submitted do not leave much room for error.
“It’s not a lot of signatures in the overall scheme of things,” he said.
Ms. Kabot called Mr. Anthony’s objection to her Integrity petition “political sabotage,” characterized the move as an “injustice” and vowed to fight on against the Democratic “party bosses.”
“Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger,” she stated in her press release.
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