Pending approval by the state Board of Elections and barring legitimate objections, a third candidate will appear on the ballot in a March 31 special election in the 20th Congressional District. Libertarian Eric Sundwall submitted double the number of voter signatures needed to appear on an independent line on Monday, March 9.
People are very willing to sign a petition for an independent candidate, said Sundwall, whose campaigned rushed to collect the endorsements over the past two weeks. A total of 3,500 signatures are required to be placed on the ballot.
Any voter can register an objection within three days from Monday. From Thursday, objectors have six days to identify the signatures they protest. The Board of Elections must have a ballot for the election finalized by March 18, though, so anyone may object up to that point, said Bob Brehm, a spokesman for the board.
`Even though everything else is compressed in a special election, the objection process is the same as any other petition,` said Brehm.
Brehm also said that the board does not require a signature count to be submitted with the petition, just an indication that the requirement was fulfilled.
As of press time, no objections had been filed.
With his petition filed, Sundwall can at long last turn his attention toward the race itself.
`We hope that we get the respect that we’ve essentially earned by collection of these signatures and be included in forums,` he said. `We’re out there, slugging it out in the trenches, while Tedisco and Murphy are showing up to empty campaign headquarters openings.`
Sundwall said he has confirmed with the League of Women’s Voters that he will be included in a debate schedule for March 26. As for the other debates scheduled, he said, he will continue to make efforts to join with James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, and Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls.
Sundwall, a 41-year-old information technology consultant from Niverville, is the state Libertarian Party chairman. Though he has never held elected office, he did take a stab at the 20th in 2006, when he didn’t have enough signatures to secure a spot on the ballot. His father served on the Kinderhook Town Board for eight years.
Sundwall also hosts the cable access political commentary program `Capital Outsider,` and makes a digital splash through blogging and holding a YouTube presence.
He said he is strongly opposed to the federal recovery package and advocates for fiscal conservatism, suggesting such measures as a reduction in military spending (coupled with a withdrawal of troops from foreign lands), a repeal of the 18-cent federal gas tax and spending and tax cuts.
In other special election news, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has released a schedule indicating when candidates in the 20th Congressional District special election must disclose their campaign finances to the federal watchdog.
The pre-general reporting period will run until March 11, and candidates must have filed their reports by March 19.
Any contributions received between March 12 and March 28 must be reported to the FEC within 48 hours of receipt. The candidates are required to report all campaign contributions and expenditures.
In normal election years, there are several reporting periods. The truncated nature of this special election does not provide time for multiple reports before the polls open, though.
The FEC post information from the reports it receives on its Web site, www.fec.gov.
November’s race between Kirsten Gillibrand and Sandy Treadwell was one of the most expensive Congressional contests in the nation, with about $11.5 million spent between the two campaigns.“
