Candidate Questions Handling of Some Oneida County Affidavit Ballots
Oneida County Executive candidate Dave Gordon is alleging fraud in the 2018 election in the way some affidavit ballots were handled.
And he says it is likely occurring at polling locations all across the state.
The affidavit ballots he is specifically mentioning were given to voters who showed up at a particular voting location last fall and whose names did not appear on that polling location's registry. Gordon says in accordance with state election law, the affidavit ballots are to be given to the voter and then sealed, to be opened later by the county election office when it make a determination as to that voter's eligibility. However, Gordon says information obtained in a foil request from the Oneida County Board of Elections indicates some affidavits were cast directly into the voting machines, possibly by individuals who were not legally eligible.
Gordon shared with media the results of a FOIL request dealing with some of the affidavit ballots from Oneida County this past fall - when he was a candidate for Oneida County Clerk - and among the envelops were hand written notes like: ''VOID - ballot cast in machine'', or ''Ballot submitted in machine''.
While Gordon does not know if those voters were eligible or not, he maintains that because they weren't properly handled in accordance with state law, it constitutes fraud. He's urging Oneida County and other counties across the state take action to avoid future instances. He is proposing the creation of a separate affidavit ballot that is a different color than election ballots or is unreadable by the voting machines. Gordon said he has notified both the New York State Board of Elections and the Oneida County Board of Elections but has not gotten a response from either.
When we asked officials at the Oneida Count Board of Elections about what Gordon was claiming, WIBX was told there would be no comment at this time.
An official with the New York State Board of Elections press office said he could not comment directly on any county's handling of the affidavit ballots and would not say if the situation described by Gordon was a violation of state law. Rather he said it was a matter that should have been raised within 30 days of the election so that the complaint could have been heard by a judge.
Gordon is set to face incumbent Anthony Picente in a June Republican primary for the county executive's post.