Raymond Blackwell was ruled ineligible for the Syracuse mayoral Democratic primary in September, shrinking the pool of candidates to eight.

Onondaga County Board of Elections commissioners negated hundreds of Blackwell’s petition signatures, because many came from addresses outside of Syracuse such as from Liverpool and Cicero.

Without the invalidated signatures, Blackwell didn’t have the 1,000 necessary to run in a primary.

Throughout his campaign, Blackwell did not receive support from the Onondaga County Democratic Committee. He also was not able to meet the $1,000 threshold needed for a filing with the New York State Board of Elections.

Blackwell has the option of appealing this decision in court. However, on Tuesday he said he would continue campaigning and hopes people will vote for him as a write-in candidate, according to Syracuse.com.

“I’m going to keep running the way I intend to keep running. I had a feeling it was biased from the beginning and that’s why people don’t vote,” Blackwell said, per Syracuse.com.

With Blackwell out of the race, four Democrats are still seeking the party nomination. Joe Nicoletti and Juanita Perez Williams will be on the ballot. Both of them had objections regarding the petitions of Blackwell, Alfonso Davis and Marty Masterpole.

The Board of Elections will hold hearings to determine the legitimacy of Masterpole’s and Davis’ petitions on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Published on August 1, 2017 at 8:51 pm

Contact Sandhya: ssiyer@syr.edu