WEST NEW YORK — An attempt by Dr. Felix Roque and his supporters to force a recall election against West New York Mayor Sal Vega has failed. The municipal clerk in that town found enough invalid signatures that the matter will not come to a vote any time soon, sources say.
West New York Town Clerk Carmela Riccie confirmed that she rejected approximately 50 percent of the petitions submitted by Roque.
“Only where there were significant deviations from the law did I reject signatures on the petitions,” said Riccie in a press statement.
Riccie then noted in a report she provided to both Roque and Vega’s team the reasons for the denial of petitions, including various instances of petitions where the circulator signed and the notary notarized blank pages.
“The circumstances establish that the notary, who also notarized other pages, acted improperly and through those actions facilitated substantial and material non-compliance with the requirements of the act,” said Riccie in her report.
In some instances, she said, the circulator’s affidavit was notarized before the signatures were collected, according to the dates of the signatures.
Many of the reasons for denial of petitions include signatures not matching and handwriting that appears as if the circulator filled out the entire form.
In a press conference before the official announcement, Roque said that some circulators did that to help seniors who couldn’t write well because their hands had arthritis but that his attorneys are advising him to continue forward and appeal the results in court if necessary.
The recall election would have been held in February of 2011. However, Vega is up for re-election next year anyway.
For more on that story, read “West New York News” below or stay tuned.
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