Syracuse Common Councilor Michael Heagerty needed 335 valid signatures on his petitions to run for re-election on the Democratic Party line, a generally routine task for any incumbent. He was mortified to find Wednesday that he ended up one signature short.

And that he forgot to sign his own petition.

The city Democratic Committee had named Heagerty its designee in the 1st District and wanted to see his name in the Democratic line Nov. 3. Instead, district voters will find that spot blank.

On Wednesday evening, a reporter broke the news to Heagerty that he didn't sign. "I didn't sign my own petition? You've got to be kidding me," he said.

The one-term incumbent will still be elsewhere on the ballot. He has the Working Families Party designation and will be listed at least on that line in the general election. He also will seek an independent party line by gathering at least 346 fresh signatures of registered voters in his district by Aug. 18, he said.

Heagerty, the owner of Eastwood's Palace Theatre and a pioneer developer in Armory Square, won the seat in 2007 after Republican incumbent Jeff DeFrancisco decided not to seek re-election.

Heagerty said he had about 20 volunteers helping him gather signatures of registered Democrats in the 1st District leading up to the July 16 deadline. But some of the helpers inadvertently ventured across district boundaries and took signatures from people who do not live in the district.

Heagerty's Republican opponent Matt Rayo challenged Heagerty's petitions, and the county Board of Elections found 64 of Heagerty's 398 signatures to be invalid - one too many to give Heagerty the Democratic line.

"In my 35 years experience, I can't remember anything being this close at the council or legislature level," said Democratic Election Commissioner Ed Ryan.

Heagerty said he's kicking himself for not gathering more valid signatures.

"We got almost 400, and we figured we were good," he said.

The incumbent said he believes voters will look down the ballot a few extra rows to find his name on Election Day.

"They're going to find me, they're going to know I'm running," Heagerty said.

In Syracuse, the Working Families Party line has always been a secondary line for candidates, said Rick Oppedisano, chairman of the local party chapter.

"If he were to run on our line alone and win, it would give us a little more validity as a party," Oppedisano said. "It would show that we have some clout."

Rayo, a recent graduate of the state University College of Environmental Science and Forestry, has the Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines.