Poquott election petitions decision to come Wednesday

The state judge hearing a case involving disputes over election petitions in the Village of Poquott is expected to rule Wednesday morning on whether court papers filed by village board candidates were valid.

A lawyer for Mayor Dolores Parrish and three trustee candidates has argued that mayoral candidate Barbara Donovan and trustee candidates Michael Schaefer and Joan Hubbard filed court papers that were invalid because they were missing important information such as dates and court addresses.

State Supreme Court Justice W. Gerard Asher scheduled a hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Riverhead to announce his decision.

The papers filed by Donovan, Hubbard and Schaefer claimed that candidate petitions filed by Parrish, Trustee Sandra Nicoletti and trustee candidates Gary Garofano and John Mastauskas should be thrown out because of illegible signatures and other errors.

Parrish, Nicoletti, Mastauskas and Garofano since have said they will run as write-in candidates and may drop their defense.