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NY Gov. signs bill allowing candidates to use chosen names in bids for office
Brooklyn EagleAfter collecting over a thousand petition signatures in the dead of winter and in the middle of a deadly pandemic, Moumita Ahmed faced a gut-wrenching reality.
The New York City Board of Elections kicked her off the ballot in her 2020 race for district leader because her personal and professional first name, which she had used on all of her BOE paperwork, didn’t match her legal name. To add insult to injury, the BOE booted Ahmed and another Muslim woman from the ballot on the first day of Ramadan.
Though a judge would soon rule in Ahmed’s favor, reinstating her and then-Assembly candidate Mary Jobaida back onto the ballot, neither Ahmed, Jobaida or any other candidate running for office will ever again face the prospect of getting kicked off the ballot because of their name.
On Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that expands the BOE’s definition of the word “name,” and would allow for candidates to use alternate, familiar or anglicized names in their bids for office.
The New York City Board of Elections kicked her off the ballot in her 2020 race for district leader because her personal and professional first name, which she had used on all of her BOE paperwork, didn’t match her legal name. To add insult to injury, the BOE booted Ahmed and another Muslim woman from the ballot on the first day of Ramadan.
Though a judge would soon rule in Ahmed’s favor, reinstating her and then-Assembly candidate Mary Jobaida back onto the ballot, neither Ahmed, Jobaida or any other candidate running for office will ever again face the prospect of getting kicked off the ballot because of their name.
On Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that expands the BOE’s definition of the word “name,” and would allow for candidates to use alternate, familiar or anglicized names in their bids for office.
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