Opinion
September 25, 1970
In a proceeding under section 330 of the Election Law, (1) respondent J. Stanley Shaw and all other respondents whose names appear after his in the full title herein (the appellants-respondents) appeal (a) from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County, entered September 4, 1970, which granted the application in part, i.e., inter alia invalidating the purported election of appellants-respondents as officers of the Queens County Committee of the Liberal Party held on July 13, 1970 and ordering a meeting of said committee to be held on or before September 25, 1970 to elect its officers and, (b) as limited by their brief, from so much of a further order of said court, entered September 18, 1970, as, on reargument, adhered to the original decision and order; and (2) petitioners cross-appeal to a limited extent from the first above-mentioned order, i.e., inter alia, insofar as it did not adjudge them to have been elected as such officers (upon the cross appeal we have reviewed the said later order which granted reargument and adhered to the original decision and order). Appeals from order entered September 4, 1970 dismissed as academic, without costs. That order was superseded by the order which granted reargument. Order entered September 18, 1970 reversed, on the law, insofar as it adhered to the original decision and order, without costs, and petition dismissed. The petition must be dismissed for failure to join parties necessary to the proceeding, namely, three of the officers elected at the July 13 meeting (see Matter of Schwimmer v. Power, 21 A.D.2d 835). Nevertheless, we have reviewed the record and, were reversal and dismissal of the petition not required on this ground, we would reach the same result on the merits. In our opinion, a new election is not necessary because (1) the use of proxy votes at the July 13 meeting was proper; (2) the votes, including proxies, cast at that time leave no doubt as to the officers chosen by the members of the County Committee; (3) the results of the election are not impugned by any of the alleged irregularities which occurred at the meeting; and (4) the results would not be affected by whether or not weighted voting was used. Christ, P.J., Rabin, Munder, Latham and Benjamin, JJ., concur.