Many Saltaire voters maintain dual registrations

Dozens of homeowners in the Village of Saltaire have been maintaining voter registrations in two places at once, allowing some to zigzag between voting districts each May and November.

One woman since 2004 has voted six times in Saltaire village elections and five times in Manhattan general elections - in essence, picking mayors in two municipalities.

State Board of Election officials and electoral law experts say this apparently violates state election law - but add that because of a quirk in state village law, the practice cannot easily be curbed without an amendment by the State Legislature.

Saltaire, a Fire Island community with about 400 homes, allows year-round and seasonal residents each year to register to vote on two "personal registration" days scheduled shortly before the annual village election in May.

State allows the practice

State village law allows the practice and does not require a village to register the names with the county or state election boards. State election law, on the other hand, requires election officers to forward names of new voters to the state and to the district where they last voted.

Saltaire follows state village law. The bottom line: Saltaire voters are not added to the state's voter database, which was designed to eliminate dual registrants.

The personal registration list allows residents to vote only in that year's village election. If Saltaire residents register instead through Suffolk's board of elections, they are eligible to vote in both the May village election and in the general election in November in nearby Ocean Beach.

Critics say Saltaire's personal registration policy disenfranchises year-round residents by swamping the vote with ballots from those who primarily live and vote elsewhere. Though the 2000 census listed just 43 year-round residents in Saltaire, 168 people voted there in May. Mayor Robert Cox III won the election by seven votes.

Saltaire Village trustees, who each year approve the use of personal registration, point to the turnout as evidence the policy boosts voter participation. Some property owners say it also protects their interests.

"My vote makes a difference in Saltaire," said William McKibbin, 83, who votes regularly there and in Manhattan. "Otherwise, the village employees that live there but don't own property would control the vote, and that's stupid."

A Newsday review of Saltaire's 2009 and 2010 personal registration lists and state election records shows that a quarter of those who signed them - some 20 people - have alternated voting districts over the past several years without officially changing their registrations, casting ballots in Saltaire in May and elsewhere in November.

Not tracked by elections board

The state Board of Elections said it does not track how many villages keep personal registration lists. The seasonal villages of Ocean Beach and West Hampton Dunes do not use the system.

Hugh O'Brien III, the village trustee who lost the May mayoral election to Cox, said constituents prefer personal registration.

"They would like the chance to vote for the mayor and trustees in Saltaire without giving up their registration elsewhere," he said. "The loophole exists. As long as the law permits it, they want to take advantage of it."

But Noel Feustel, a former village trustee, says the system is "ripe for abuse."

"It's completely abusive of the voting system because there's no accountability," said Feustel, who is registered in Saltaire through the Suffolk County Board of Elections. He ran for trustee in May on a platform to abolish the village.

Last year, a State Supreme Court judge barred Saltaire officials from holding winter and spring meetings in the office building of a Manhattan law firm where former village Mayor Scott Rosenblum is a partner. The village has appealed the ruling.

Voters are permitted by state election law to choose a part-time home as their voting residence, and to register a change of address as often as they like.

The law does not permit voters to maintain voter registrations in two districts at once.

Henry T. Berger, a Manhattan lawyer and expert in electoral law, said the question of "zigzag" voting hinges on intent.

"The courts have repeatedly ruled that if you have more than one residence, you may choose one to be your voting residence. It's a residence to which you intend to return," he said.

If a Manhattan resident registers to vote in Saltaire, she should ask the New York City Board of Elections to purge her name from its rolls, Berger said.

When Saltaire voters regularly cast ballots in two locations, their actions indicate they don't intend to make the village their voting residence, Berger said.

"That's a problem," he said. "I think they're skating close to the edge."