Tedra Cobb (Press-Republican photo)

21st Congressional District Democratic challenger Tedra Cobb’s effort to appear on another ballot line in November was struck down on Wednesday by the state Board of Elections.

According to a news release from the Cobb campaign, the petitions submitted by Cobb were 343 signatures short of the 3,500 required. The state board’s decision followed a challenge by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s campaign of Cobb’s plan to run on a “CD 21 Unites” ballot line.

Two Republicans, Steve Ramant of Hague and Craig Sweet of Queensbury, had identified what they said were more than 2,500 alleged irregularities with the help of a large team of fellow Stefanik supporters and campaign staff. Board of Elections staffers earlier this week had determined that 572 of the 3,729 signatures on the petitions submitted by Cobb were invalid.

The Cobb campaign issued a statement following the ruling, stating that the campaign was confident many of the signatures could be authenticated in court. However, the campaign said Cobb opted to not challenge the ruling and instead devote the resources that would have gone into the fight to talk with voters about the issues.

“Rather than battle Stefanik’s high-dollar attorneys, our campaign accepts the NYS Board of Elections’ decision that we were 343 signatures short,” the Cobb campaign statement said. “While we are confident that many of these signatures would have been authenticated by the court, we are choosing to use campaign resources to talk with voters about the issues that matter to them.”

“I want to thank the volunteer signature gatherers who, in a very short time frame, had over 3,500 conversations with voters from every party affiliation as well as those who don’t identify with a party. We cannot overlook the fact that hundreds of volunteers have collected over 8,800 signatures in support of my campaign.”

The state Board of Elections requires candidates to collect 3,500 valid signatures in order to run on a party line other than one of the eight so-called ballot status parties — Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Green, Independence, Reform, Working Families and Women’s Equality — which automatically appear on the ballot. A party gains ballot status when its candidate for governor receives more than 50,000 votes in the prior gubernatorial election; if it fails to match that total in the subsequent election, it loses ballot status.

Cobb will still appear on the Democratic and Women’s Equality Party lines. She may also appear on the Working Families Party line as officials with that party look to find a way to remove unsuccessful Democratic hopeful Katie Wilson — whom they had endorsed prior to the June 26 Democratic primary — and replace her with Cobb.

Wilson had said she would not campaign if she lost the Democratic primary.

Stefanik will appear on the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Reform Party ballot lines in November.