Candidate Can’t Pick New Party Name, Court Rules

(CN) - A New York candidate cannot pick a new name for an independent party in an election when that name includes part of the name of an existing party, a state appellate division ruled.

Glenn DiResto ran for a seat in New York City Council as a member of the Families First Party. The Board of Elections invalidated his petition because the party's name was too close to that of the Working Families party.

The state trial court reversed that decision, granting DiResto's petition and giving him two days to choose a new party name.

But the appellate division sided with the elections board.

"The (trial court) erred in granting DiResto the opportunity to select a new name for the independent body making the nomination," the judges wrote.

"There is no authorization for a board of elections to grant a candidate the opportunity to select a new name when, as here, the original name ... includes the name or part of the name of an existing party," they continued.

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