Fawkes Defends McClafferty Disqualification; Peter and LaRonde Back His Request for Hearing

Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes is defending her decision to disqualify Matthew McClafferty from the Delegate to Congress ballot, after two Board of Elections members argued that she acted outside her authority and said the matter should be heard by the board. Mr. McClafferty, who is awaiting word on when his appeal will be heard, disclosed earlier this week that his attempt to seek office as Delegate to Congress had been blocked after Ms. Fawkes wrote to him saying he had been disqualified as a candidate because of a compromised nomination signature collection process. After Mr. McClafferty vowed to appeal, Board of Elections members Cleopatra Peter and Barbara LaRonde supported his request for a hearing and challenged Ms. Fawkes’s authority to make the disqualification decision. They argued that the power to initiate and conduct such investigations rests with the Board of Elections, not the Elections Supervisor. In emails addressed to Mr. McClafferty and copied to other board...