NY S02514

Requires election officers, boards, and courts to liberally construe election laws when ruling on petition objections to protect candidates' right to run and voters' right to choose their preferred candidate

Invalidates objections based on address issues if the voter or witness identity and address are reasonably ascertainable, and permits use of village, hamlet, borough, or census-designated place names instead of formal city, town, or county names

Prohibits invalidating petitions due to pagination errors, misstated signature counts on cover sheets, or inaccurate signature numbers in witness statements—only actual signatures appearing on the petition shall be counted

Limits objections based on misstated public office descriptions to cases where a reasonable voter would be confused by the error

When witness statement dates precede some voter signature dates, only those signatures dated after the witness statement date shall be invalidated, rather than the entire petition