BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — The Appellate Division, Second Department, has upheld a lower court’s ruling that disqualified Athena Clarke from running for City Council in Brooklyn’s 46th District on the Protect Animals Party line.
Clarke, a first-generation American from Brooklyn with roots in Jamaica and the West Indies, is a former NYC public school teacher turned advocate after losing her job under the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
She is running for City Council in Brooklyn’s 46th District on a platform she describes as centered on due process, parental rights, public safety and government accountability.
Clarke filed her independent nominating petition with the New York City Board of Elections on May 23, 2025, seeking to appear on the November ballot alongside Curtis Sliwa, who was designated by the same petition as the party’s candidate for mayor.
Soon after, local resident and registered voter Lenny Markh filed general objections and then detailed objections to Clarke’s petition. The Board sustained those objections and invalidated her candidacy.
Clarke challenged the determination in Kings County Supreme Court, arguing that Markh lacked standing and that his objections should have been dismissed because he did not serve a copy on Sliwa as required under Election Law § 6-154. Justice Lawrence Knipel rejected those arguments in a June 25 order, and Clarke appealed.
On Sept. 2, a panel of four justices affirmed the lower court’s decision. The court explained that under long-standing precedent, a multi-candidate petition is considered a separate petition as to each candidate.
Because Markh’s objections were directed only at Clarke, the court held he was not required to serve Sliwa. The justices also found that Markh had standing since he resides and is registered to vote in the 46th District.
“The Supreme Court properly denied the petition, inter alia, to validate the independent nominating petition and dismissed the proceeding,” the court wrote, concluding that Clarke’s remaining arguments were without merit.
The decision leaves Clarke off the Nov. 4 ballot in the race for the 46th District Council seat.
Brooklyn’s 46th City Council District, represented by Democrat Mercedes Narcisse since 2022, covers neighborhoods along Jamaica Bay, including Canarsie, Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, Gerritsen Beach, Georgetown, parts of Marine Park, Flatlands and Sheepshead Bay.
