The court gavel has officially hammered down the feisty bid by Suffern Mayor Dagan Lacorte to win the Democratic nomination for Rockland County Executive.

A one time frontrunner in the Democratic primary, Lacorte was eliminated from the upcoming election without nary a vote because he never made it to the ballot. His campaign was KO’d by fellow Democratic challenger David Fried’s challenge to Lacorte’s ballot petition signatures, the highly technical phase where candidates must qualify to be put on the ballot. Canvassing for resident signatures is a difficult process and candidates can easily be tripped up with small petition errors such as place of residence or even accurate zip codes or street addresses.

Lacorte needed 2,000 official ballot signatures to qualify for the Rockland County executive race and after Fried’s repeated challenges fell less than 100 shy. The Court of Appeals in Albany issued its decision in a seven to zero ruling Thursday morning that upheld the the Appellate Court’s ruling to remove Lacorte  from the Democratic primary ballot.

“The Appellate Division properly determined that the validating petition did not sufficiently specify which determinations of the board petitioner claimed were erroneous,” read the Court of Appeals partial explanation.

“Without challenges, any would-be candidate would be free to defraud the public,” Fried said in a statement on Lacorte being booted from the ballot. Fried also challenged Vladimir Leon’s ballot signatures, who was eventually ruled ineligible by the  Rockland County Board of Elections.

“I am deeply disappointed by the decision of the New York Court of Appeals invalidating my petitions on a procedural issue despite the Supreme Court’s clear and unambiguous finding that we had more than the required number of Democratic signatures,” Lacorte said in a statement Thursday afternoon as he thanked supporters who advanced his campaign, which surged to the front of the pack and at times ruffled county party operators with its pointed assertions of preference for political insiders.

“Thank you to my supporters who worked tirelessly for ten months — inspired by the opportunity to bring change to Rockland’s government,” said Lacorte. “New York’s outdated petition laws make it hard for candidates without party backing to get on the ballot and they are enforced by party-appointed Boards of Election. These laws are a relic of Tammany Hall-style politics and I will fight to change them. I will be listening carefully to the remaining candidates and hope they speak to the concerns of the beleaguered taxpayers who supported my candidacy.”

Fried and Rockland Legislator Ilan Schoenberger are now the two remaining Democrats facing off in the dusty Rockland electoral primary streets to determine who will face Republican candidate Ed Day in the November election.

Now Democratic challengers David Fried and Ilan S. Schoenberger for County Executive 2013 will square off in the September 10 primary to determine which candidate will face Republican candidate Ed Day.

All three remaining candidates are or have been county legislators, with Schoenberger serving the longest.