Morgan Evers removed from June 25 ballot after typo

State Democratic committee candidate and incumbent Morgan Evers has been removed from the ballot for the upcoming June 25 primary.

A board of elections spokesperson said Evers was removed for filing a late attempt to correct an address typo on her filed petitions.

Evers, a city teacher, filed a petition against the Board of Elections in the state Supreme Court last month to get back on the ballot, but the court upheld the board’s determination.

“New York State is the most difficult state for ballot access,” Evers told The Press. “And that being said, we were a team of four of us and, due to my visual impairment, I was not in charge of what I would call the minutiae of filing with the BOE.”

The typo was on Evers’ address, according to her former running mate, Aaron Stayman. Evers and Stayman live in the same building complex and the cover sheet for Evers put Stayman’s unit instead of Evers, Stayman said.

The mistake was not caught in time with the BOE to avoid Evers’ removal from the June 25 primary ballot.

“We fully take accountability and responsibility for it, as upset as we are,” Stayman told The Press. “A mistake was made and we’re paying the high price for it.”

According to the court, a designating petition comprised of three volumes was filed for the Unity Club slate on or about April 4. District leader candidate and incumbent Ramdat Singh was listed as a “contact person to correct deficiencies” on the petition coversheet.

Singh did not return a call for comment at press time.

Unity district leader candidate and incumbent Abigail Martin said it was disappointing Evers wouldn’t be on the ballot after having filed over 1,200 petitions in her name.

“It is not democratic to have such a complicated process for ballot access,” Martin said. “We’re the independent, grassroots candidates that, unlike the Dinowitz team, do not have endless resources and attorneys who work to keep our candidates on the ballot and the other teams off. Making sure voters don’t have a choice on Election Day isn’t democracy.”

This is not the first time a candidate running from the Unity Democratic Club has been taken off the ballot. Last June, a slate of 18 judicial delegates and alternative nominees were invalidated after liquid paper fluid was used to correct a typo on nearly 250 petition sheets that were already signed.

That error was also a candidate’s incorrect address.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s attorney, Stanley Schlein — who also is considered the power behind the Bronx Democratic political machine — brought the 2023 case forward. Dinowitz and his team also recently challenged eight County Committee candidates from the Unity Club for “deficient” signatures, and were successful in seven of them.

However, Evers removal from the ballot had nothing to do with Dinowitz or his team, he told The Press.

“The only issue here is their competence or lack thereof,” Dinowitz said. “This is the second year in a row where they screwed up and, as a result, lost candidates. It’s on them; it’s not on us. Board of Elections has a procedure.”

The removal of Evers has left Johanna Edmondson as the presumptive winner for female state committee of the 81st Assembly District.

“Despite (Evers removal), she ran a great race and continues to be a strong candidate,” Edmondson told The Press. “Right now, I’m concentrating on supporting my community and my team toward our June 25 election.”

Evers gave her support to Edmondson.

“I know from personal experience that, even though this job is a volunteer job, it does ask a lot of you,” Evers said. “There’s time off from work, but I think it’s worth it to help advocate for our community and to help get the best leaders possible elected.”

Evers and Edmondson faced each other for the role back in 2022, with Evers narrowly winning by just 76 votes. Through her term, Evers said she was proud to help get U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi elected. She also co-signed several resolutions, including those advocating for the New York Heat Act, the New York Health Act, literacy as a civil right and one condemning the rise of antisemitism in the state following Oct. 7.

Evers said she will still support her former running mates: Stayman, and district leader candidates Martin and Ramdat Singh. Evers is also on the June 25 ballot as a delegate to the judicial convention. As for the future, Evers said she hasn’t decided whether she’ll run again or for other positions.

“I’m not going to stop serving my community,” she said.

“I’m not going to stop being involved in my club. I serve on my co-op board. I’ve seen firsthand some of the effects of climate change on our housing and I really want to start advocating for how to keep housing costs low despite all this damage the changing climate is doing.”