Rev. Al Sharpton continues to fight for mayoral runoff

Jet, Oct 6, 1997

The Rev. Al Sharpton recently took his fight for a Democratic runoff in the New York mayor's election to the state's Supreme Court. At JET press time a judge was slated to rule on the issue.

Sharpton began his fight when the Board of Elections Commission officially announced that he had fallen less than 800 votes short of forcing a runoff election with Ruth Messinger. Unofficial tallies indicated that Messinger had 39 percent of the vote and Sharpton had 32 percent. A candidate needs to garner 40 percent of the vote to avert a runoff. After absentee ballots were counted, Messinger was pushed over the top.

Sharpton's lawyers first filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of five voters, alleging that the Democratic mayoral primary was corrupted by error and official blundering. They asked the court to order a runoff.

But the judge rejected the bid. Now the lawsuit has been filed in New York Supreme Court.

Sharpton, speaking during a taping of "Sunday Edition" on WCBS Channel 2 in New York, said he would not stop fighting.

"I am not going to stop the legal challenges," he said. "Now I don't know if I was mugged or tripped, but I know I'm on the ground."

Sharpton said if his legal efforts fail he will give his support to Messinger, who faces incumbent Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican.

"If in fact she has fairly won," he said, "I have said from the beginning I will endorse the winner, and I think that's no more than right, and I will work for the winner."

U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin, who rejected the bid in federal court, sharply criticized the elections board. He said the board "had an obligation to step forward and say this race is too close to call."

However, the judge said that Sharpton's lawyers failed to offer sufficient evidence of intentional deprivation of constitutional rights.