Citing a battle of curiosity and incorrect conclusions, Widespread Trigger NY, Free Speech For Individuals and the League of Ladies Voters of Rensselaer County are calling on the state legal professional common to pursue an unbiased investigation into the vote depend errors that occurred within the November 2025 County elections.
The November election night time outcomes decided {that a} funds enhance for the Stephentown Memorial Library was defeated by a margin of 528 to 60, making it ineligible for a recount in line with the Rensselaer County Board of Elections (RCBOE). The Board initially adamantly defended the outcomes.
After the library gathered statements from greater than 200 voters that affirmed that they had voted in favor of the funds, the RCBOE agreed to conduct a guide recount. The recount reversed the funds loss, with it passing 540 to 279. The recount additionally discovered that two different poll questions had been incorrectly decided, together with a proposal that might have ended the East Greenbush volunteer rescue squad service program.
Joan Rogers, president of the League of Ladies Voters of Rensselaer County, mentioned, “Now we have referred to as for an investigation due to the way in which the Board of Elections responded to information of a possible miscount. We’re involved that the voters haven’t any assurance that this error – or related errors – will probably be prevented, acknowledged, or corrected sooner or later.”
Public information obtained by the teams present that the RCBOE requested its voting system vendor, Clear Poll, to find out what went flawed. Clear Poll responded the following day with an evaluation that decided that its tabulators didn’t malfunction. The reason offered by the seller additionally included statements that have been incorrect and/or inconsistent with statements made by the RCBOE.
“Errors can occur in elections,” mentioned Susan Greenhalgh, senior advisor for election safety at Free Speech For Individuals. “What’s so regarding about this incident is the Board of Election’s preliminary refusal to think about the chance that there was a mistake. It’s much more troubling that when it realized there was an error within the depend, the Board relinquished its accountability to search out out what went flawed and as an alternative, apparently relied on the seller – regardless of the seller’s clear battle of curiosity. Most significantly, the Board then ignored what are plainly inconsistent and inaccurate claims made by the seller in its evaluation.”
“Clearly, procedures avoiding conflicts of curiosity have to be in place when the potential of machine error is raised by candidates, sponsoring organizations, or voters. We hope the Lawyer Normal will conduct an investigation that can illuminate what went flawed and result in new laws setting procedures to guarantee related points don’t come up sooner or later, “ mentioned Susan Lerner, Govt Director of Widespread Trigger NY.
The letter concludes, “[a] thorough and complete, unbiased investigation is important to completely perceive what went flawed, and what adjustments must be made going ahead,” to guard “all counties in New York State and stop future miscounts.”
The letter could be learn right here.
