Allegations of potential voter fraud in a New York City council race have cast a cloud over the election after major irregularities triggered an internal investigation.
The potential fraud occurred during “a tightly contested GOP primary last month between two south Brooklyn City Council hopefuls,” The New York Post originally reported earlier this month.
Records showed that Juliet Windvan and Antoinette Garzaniti voted in the District 47 GOP primary that saw Brooklyn Republican chairman Richie Barsamian face off against George Sarantopoulous.
The problem is that both voters died over 10 years ago, according to City Board of Elections documents exclusively obtained by The New York Post.
Additionally, a third voter named William Allen, 87, said despite not casting a ballot in the race, he received a “cure notice,” which voters get when their ballots contain an error or are missing a signature.
The New York Times also covered the story, pointing out that on Friday, the New York City Board of Elections asked prosecutors to investigate the situation.
This was after a second day of hand recounting, where there was a “late discovery of 22 paper ballots that officials said were not scanned by the voting machines on election night.”
Board of Elections staff discovered 22 suspicious ballots inside ballot bins at the agency’s Brooklyn facility, and they were ultimately invalidated after an internal investigation, Brooklyn Paper reported.
Sarantopoulos was declared the victor Tuesday over Barsamian, and is expected to face Democratic nominee Kayla Santosuosso in the November general election.
Do we need to improve our election security?
This is a stark reminder of how fragile our electoral system is, especially in smaller — or close — races. Every vote counts.
Margins can be razor thin, even in a presidential race.
We saw it in 2000 with George W. Bush barely beating former Vice President Al Gore. We saw it again with several swing states back in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
Election integrity and ballot security should remain one of the nation’s top priorities.
Even when it’s not carried out on a massive scale, fraud can shift a state race, flip a governor’s seat, affect a House or Senate election, and might even determine the leader of the free world.
That’s why voter ID is vital.
It shouldn’t be painted as unreasonable by Democrats or shown to be a burden to minorities.
People use ID to travel, give it to the authorities when questioned, and use it to rent a car, sign a lease, pick up checks, and even buy alcohol.
So how can it be too much to ask for people to show identification to cast a ballot? Give me a break. America’s not buying it anymore.
The sooner we implement more voter ID laws across the nation, the less likely these stories are to pop up — and the more likely people are to accept the results — even when their candidate loses.
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