Election security

 

Report: Dead People Voted in Close Upstate New York Congressional Race

Dead peopleallegedly voted in a too-close-to-call upstate New York congressional race, according to a county attorney involved with the case.

Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) is just 12 to 13 votes ahead of Republican challenger Claudia Tenney in the most recent count of votes for New York’s 22nd congressional seat. In question, though, are hundreds of absentee ballots.

Tenney, reports the state, was up by about 27,000 votes before absentee ballots for Brindisi were counted and erased her lead. The New York Post reports that Madison County attorney Tina Wayland-Smith has stated that votes by dead people were cast in the hotly contested race:

Madison County Attorney Tina Wayland-Smith reported that election officials there disqualified absentee ballots filed by three “deceased” voters” in a filing with state Supreme Court Justice Scott Del Conte, who is overseeing the count in Oswego County. [Emphasis added]

…

“This is a known problem of voting by mail. It should be investigated,” said Doug Kellner, co-chairman of the board, noting that it’s a crime for someone to mail in a ballot in the name of a dead person. [Emphasis added]

“It is an election fraud. It’s a felony,” he said. [Emphasis added]