Forged Signatures Found in Mayor Eric Adams’ Re-Election Petition

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing fresh controversy after an investigative report by Gothamist and WNYC revealed that his re-election campaign submitted forged signatures in the petition required to secure a spot on the November general election ballot.

According to the report, Adams’ campaign submitted nearly 50,000 signatures, far exceeding the 7,500 required for independent candidates. However, after two weeks of investigation, reporters were able to confirm that at least 52 signatures were fraudulent—including signatures of at least three deceased individuals.

Adams Responds Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mayor Adams dismissed the allegations as a political smear campaign. You have your opponents who do things to mess up your signatures. This is part of the business,” Adams said.

He suggested that adversaries intentionally added fake or deceased individuals’ names to sabotage his campaign.

Election attorney Jerry Goldfeder called the findings serious. “It’s very, very rare for somebody to forge somebody else’s signature,” he told. “It raises real concerns about the integrity of the process.”

Goldfeder also pointed out that the Board of Elections (BOE) only verifies the number of submitted signatures—not their authenticity. Signature authenticity is typically reviewed only if an objection is filed by a competing candidate, which did not happen in this case.

An attorney representing the Adams campaign Vito Pitta told , “We took any flagged petition signature seriously,” and confirmed that the campaign has hired an independent reviewer to go over all the submitted signatures.

Despite the controversy, there is currently no legal challenge to Adams’ place on the ballot. Still, political analysts suggest that the revelations could damage public trust in his campaign and provide ammunition for his rivals.

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