A long-shot mayoral candidate will remain on the Big Apple ballot this November, despite dropping out last week, according to a ruling by a Manhattan judge.
Judge Jeffery H. Pearlman ruled Thursday against former City Hall hopeful, attorney Jim Walden, who had sued the city’s Board of Elections in a bid to wipe his name from the ballot after ending his campaign last week.
Walden filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming that keeping his name on the ballot was akin to voter “disenfranchisement.”
The BOE denied his request, stating that the deadline to remove his name was months ago.
“Here, as the Board of Elections followed the law precisely as written, refusing to accept a declination of candidacy more than 3 months after the deadline for such paperwork, the Court finds that the Board was not arbitrary and capricious,” Pearlman wrote in his decision.
The BOE said election law only allows candidate names to be culled from the ballot ahead of a Sept. 19 printing deadline if they moved out of state, accepted a judicial nomination or suffered a sudden death.
Walden claimed in court Thursday that he “volunteered” to move to his second home in Connecticut for the duration of the election.
BOE attorney Grace Pyun said that they never received a filing stating his plans to relocate.
Despite a lively rebuttal from Walden, Pearlman appeared unconvinced.
“You should have moved to Connecticut,” the judge said.
“The right thing is for a candidate that withdraws to have their name removed unless there’s a compelling interest in keeping the name on,” Walden told The Post after the hearing. “It’s just common sense.”
Walden polled at less than one percent in a recent NY Times/Siena Poll released this week.
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