Justice David Schmidt
Mobley sought to declare valid a designating petition for his candidacy as a member of the City Council from the 47th Council District. The Board of Elections informed Mobley that two of his four volumes containing signatures failed to comply with the Election Law, giving Mobley three days to cure the defect. Objector Cioffe filed specifications of objections against the designating petition. The board informed Mobley he would not appear on the ballot due to the fact his amended petition volumes were not timely filed. The board reopened the issue and ordered that a revised clerk's report be prepared to determine how many valid signatures were contained in the two valid petition volumes. The clerk found the volumes contained 109 fewer signatures than was required for placement on the ballot, and the board moved to dismiss this validating proceeding claiming it was both untimely and premature. The court found that if a candidate commenced a validating proceeding after the expiration of a 14-day period, but before the board's final decision of invalidity, the proceeding was both untimely and premature, as here. Thus, it dismissed the instant action without prejudice to commencement of a new validating proceeding.
