A Staten island grand jury has recognized quite a few cases of poll harvesting fraud in a race for Metropolis Council final 12 months — together with a poll submitted on behalf of a lifeless individual and signature fraud involving dozens of different absentee ballots.
The unprecedented 38-page grand jury report launched by Staten Island District Lawyer Michael McMahon referred to as for modifications in state election regulation together with requiring official government-issued ID to vote. However it doesn't specify the race in query, nor does it file prison costs in opposition to anybody.
Sources advised The Put up that the prison investigation centered on the marketing campaign of Marko Kepi, who narrowly misplaced a GOP main race to Mid-Island Councilman David Carr.
“This case is the poster baby for the need of voter ID legal guidelines. Sadly, the actual victims listed here are the a whole bunch of residents whose identities and votes had been stolen. And it will occur once more till our state Legislature takes election integrity and safety significantly,” mentioned Carr.
The Put up beforehand reported about accusations of poll harvesting and different fraud allegedly dedicated by the Kepi marketing campaign, together with registering a lifeless man to vote for him — as a feminine.
“This Grand Jury finds that an absentee poll software bearing the cast signature
of a deceased particular person was submitted to the Board [of Elections], naming a CANDIDATE 2 marketing campaign staffer, STAFFER 1, because the approved collector of his absentee poll,” the report mentioned.
“The deceased particular person was a person who handed away in mid-2020. Nonetheless, in Might 2021, the Board processed a voter registration kind purportedly signed by him along with his pedigree info, together with his date of delivery and the final 4 digits of his Social Safety quantity, however figuring out his gender as feminine.”
“These paperwork are cast. The deceased man didn't signal any paperwork both to re-register to vote or to vote by absentee poll – not to mention to vote utilizing an absentee poll dealt with,” the grand jury report mentioned.
Kepi had no rapid remark.
The investigation mentioned the fraud didn't have an effect on the result of the election, with the elections board rejecting a lot of fraudulent ballots, however cautions: “We have no idea what we have no idea” and “the ample alternatives for unscrupulous candidates … to abuse the system with out possible detection or prison sanction cry out for treatment.”
The grand jury additionally reported 200 “mismatched” or suspect signatures on different absentee ballots submitted by staffers or volunteers with the Kepi marketing campaign, and obtained testimony from “a number of registered voters explaining that the purported signatures on absentee poll requests bearing their names weren't, in actual fact, their signatures. Nor had they approved anybody to signal their names for them.”
One individual related to the Kepi marketing campaign signed greater than “two dozen” absentee poll functions and voter registration types, it discovered.
“That creator, by signing – that's, forging – completely different voters’ signatures time and again has dedicated a number of counts of prison offenses together with Forgery within the Second Diploma in
violation of Penal Regulation … Providing a False Instrument for Submitting within the First Diploma in
violation of Penal Regulation… and Id Theft within the First Diploma,” the report mentioned.
The report mentioned the Kepi marketing campaign submitted a batch of greater than 1,000 absentee ballots to the elections board. Many lacked voter signatures and hand different defects and had been summarily rejected.
The grand jury additionally discovered “100 cases” the place Kepi’s marketing campaign submitted “remedy affirmation” types that indicated fraud primarily based on a forensic examination of voter signatures.
“This report ought to alarm all concerned within the electoral course of on Staten Island and throughout
NY city and state, together with the overall voting public” McMahon mentioned.
Regardless of ample proof, the grand jury report claimed it didn't have proof to cost any particular marketing campaign staffer with fraud.
Voting by mail or absentee expanded dramatically through the coronavirus pandemic as a approach to curb the unfold of the lethal bug at polling websites. Presently, anybody can cite COVID-19 as an excuse underneath state regulation to vote by absentee poll as an alternative of in individual.
Beforehand, solely voters who had been disabled, significantly unwell or homebound might request an absentee poll.
“Whereas I absolutely assist making voting as handy as potential and applaud the efforts of
candidates and their campaigns to encourage voters to specific their constitutional proper to vote, the accuracy, safety, and public confidence in our elections mustn't ever be sacrificed in pursuit of those objectives,” McMahon mentioned.
“I personally don't consider the result of this explicit main was affected
by the misconduct discovered by the Grand Jury. Nonetheless, the report does present an aperture
to view many potential situations the place the outcomes could possibly be tainted if motion shouldn't be taken.”
The grand jury report recommends:
- Requiring voters to current some type of government-issued identification earlier than voting, both bodily at a ballot website or by absentee poll.
- Requiring native boards of elections to retain the companies of certified consultants within the area of forensic doc examination to evaluate absentee poll envelope signatures for potential fraud.
- Prohibiting absentee poll functions and absentee ballots themselves from being despatched to an handle related to a candidate’s marketing campaign, a follow referred to as “vote harvesting” or “poll harvesting”, and barring marketing campaign staffers from dealing with absentee poll or remedy letters and affirmations.
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