Jason Stokes Candidate For The 126th Assembly In New York Violated Election Law.

Jason Stokes, a candidate for the 126th Assembly District seat has caused a bit of a stir after he asked that his request for the third party "Our Founding Fathers" line be withdrawn, as he paid supporters 1$ per petition signature collected, an act which violates state election law.

Jason Stokes, 34, asked the Broome County Board of Elections on Thursday to withdraw his petitions for the Our Founding Fathers line, saying he paid people $1 per signature they collected for him.
Under state election law, you are allowed to pay people an hourly wage to collect signatures for you. It appears the same does not hold true when you offer payment on a per signature basis.
Stokes, it appears was unable to get his line removed as the deadline to withdraw was August 20th.

Via Pressconnects.com:

"His name will appear on that line on the ballot unless a court tells us otherwise," Broome County Board of Elections Commissioner Eugene Faughnan said. "That's the extent of our jurisdiction."
A state Board of Elections spokesperson could not be reached Thursday night for comment.
Stokes, who spent $600 securing the Our Founding Fathers line, said he hadn't realized what he had done was illegal. But once he learned, after being questioned by this newspaper, he took steps to correct it.
"It's all a learning experience," he said.

Stokes who is the only candidate on his line is trying to garner the Republican nomination in the primaries , where he is running against Arthur Garrison who has been endorsed by the Independence and Conservative parties. Garrison also appears to have support from some of the local Tea Parties groups.
The two are running against Donna Lupardo, the incumbent Democrat, who has held the seat for some time.


During a recent debate at Brothers 2 Restaurant Garrison and Stokes had a few disagreements. Stokes says he will run even if he loses the primary, Garrison said he would bow out and support Stokes should he lose the nomination. Garrison said he will try and work with his opponents in Albany, Stokes disagreed stating that he was against working with his opponents.

I interviewed Art Garrison earlier, and will be attempting to interview Jason Stokes this week. We were unable to setup an interview earlier due to scheduling conflicts.