Committed to Offering
Exceptional Quality and Service
Affordable Costs and Personalized Attention
• Offering No-Contact Virtual Appointments
• Ample Parking
• Specializing in Advance Funeral Planning
• Catered Receptions
2005 West 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11223
718-372-1348
www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
Michael G. Rizzotto, Manager
NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN
Bringing down the gavel on the best barrister
Virtual Event
April 13th, 2021, 7pm
COURIER L 20 IFE, MARCH 19-25, 2021
Ballot petitioning
heats up in Brooklyn
BY KEVIN DUGGAN & BEN VERDE
As a line of mask-wearing Brooklynites
waited outside the Park Slope
CityMD on Friday, would-be politico
Justin Krebs hustled through the
waiting crowd, collecting petitioning
signatures for his nascent City Council
bid.
After earning a signature from a
registered voter, Krebs faced a few
rejections — including from one man
who told him curtly to “stop talking
to me,” and another from a rubbergloved
man who shooed him away for
“distance.”
Making the rounds, Krebs secured
three signatures from around a dozen
line-waiters, marking a below-average
showing according to the candidate.
“I’ve done this line before and I’ve
probably got positive engagement
from about half,” said the candidate
vying for the 39th Council District.
“It’s always interesting.”
The rules of the road
The many political hopefuls running
for city offi ce and their supporters
have been pounding the pavement
since early March, donning double
masks and gloves while wielding clipboards
and hand sanitizer to collect
hundreds of signatures they need to
qualify for the June 22 primary ballot.
In order for their name to appear
on voting cards, all candidates must
have at least 270 petitions signed by
residents of their district who are registered
members of their party. Petitioning
offi cially began on March 2,
and they have to fi le the collection of
John Hancocks with the state’s Board
of Elections between March 22 and
March 25, according to state election
law.
Prior to petitioning season, more
than 100 candidates and their allies
called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to scrap
the requirements entirely this year,
saying the practice would risk further
spreading the coronavirus — but state
legislators eventually agreed to lowering
the requirements to just 30 percent
while shortening the timeframe
to about three weeks.
Campaigns usually try to gather
well above the minimum in case the
petitions are challenged in court by
their opponents for not meeting a complex
set of requirements to be valid.
Such was the case during the Council
election in Bushwick’s 37th District
last year when an appeals court booted
all but one candidate off the Democratic
primary ballot over signature
issues, effectively allowing now-Councilmember
Darma Diaz to run unopposed
in the primary and the general
election in the heavily-blue precinct.
‘An opportunity to connect with
people’
For some, petitioning has been
their first chance to campaign inperson
during the pandemic, allowing
politicos to speak with everyday
voters who may not be the type to attend
campaign Zoom events.
“Anybody who comes to a Zoom
and asks a question has already
thought about it a lot, and that’s
great, those folks are intentional
and thoughtful,” said Krebs. “But
when you stop someone on the street
and say ‘I’m running for City Council’
and they say ‘what are you going
to do about dog poop?’ They’re not
coming to a Zoom to ask that question,
that’s an honest reaction.”
In the 34th Council District in
Williamsburg and Bushwick, candidate
Jennifer Gutiérrez has also
been happy to reconnect with locals
at parks and outside grocery stores,
after a year of virtual gatherings
and organizing.
“There’s a ton of people in the
community I haven’t seen all year,”
Gutiérrez said. “It’s really been an
opportunity to connect with people,
to check to see if people are alive unfortunately.”
Cusimano & Russo Funeral Home
SERVING THE COMMUNITY OF BROOKLYN FOR OVER 90 YEARS
This firm is owned by a subsidiary of Service Corp. International, 1929 Allen Pkwy, Houston, TX 77019, 713-522-5141. New York state law mandates that all contracts for
prearranged funeral agreements executed by applicants for or recipients of supplemental social security income or medical assistance be irrevocable.
Submit your nomination to
dmattone@schnepsmedia.com
or call Demetra Mattone @ 917-272-4213
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
link
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
link