NY board warns of people posing as election officials confronting voters
The state and Nassau and Suffolk counties warn to be on the lookout for election impostors going door to door demanding to see voter identification cards. Credit: Newsday/Newsday
ALBANY — The state Board of Elections is warning voters statewide that people impersonating election officials are going door to door accusing voters of committing a crime because of discrepancies in their voter registrations.
The motivation or goal of the impostors, including in Suffolk County, isn’t clear, election officials said. On Friday, the Nassau County Board of Elections issued its own advisory to voters.
In each case, the impostors demanded to see the voter’s identification. The fake officials then claim the voter is committing a crime by being registered to vote in multiple counties. The state Board of Elections said that in every case so far the voter was legally registered in their home county, but had a previous registration in a different county where they once lived that already had been purged from the state database.
State and county election officials are tracking reports and reporting them to local police as well as to state and federal law enforcement agencies, Board of Elections spokeswoman Kathleen McGrath said.
WHAT TO KNOW
- The state Board of Elections is warning voters statewide that people impersonating election officials are going door to door accusing voters of committing a crime because of discrepancies in their voter registration.
- The impostors demand to see the voter’s identification. They then claim the voter is committing a crime by being registered to vote in multiple counties.
- The state board said that in every case so far, the voter was legally registered in their home county.
“We are extremely alarmed by these actions,” said Raymond J. Riley III, co-executive director of the state Board of Elections. “These individuals are impersonating government officials in an effort to intimidate voters based on inaccurate and misleading information.”
In addition to the case reported in Suffolk, incidents have been reported in Albany, Chautauqua, Jefferson, Onondaga, Ontario, Orange, Putnam, Saratoga, Schenectady, Steuben, Warren and Washington counties. The state Board of Elections is receiving more reports daily, McGrath said.
The National Association of State Election Directors said similar reports have been made in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state.
In Warren County, about 50 miles north of Albany, two women appeared Sunday at the door of a woman who recently moved to her home, said Don Lehman, Warren County spokesman.
“It seems they are trying to confront people who illegally registered,” Lehman told Newsday. But the voter was registered legally, he said.
“They shook up this woman pretty significantly,” Lehman said. “It seemed like some confrontational situation, almost accusatory, handing them a complaint form and implying she could be the subject of this election complaint … They put the fear of God in her.”
The pair carried some identification cards purportedly from neighboring Washington County, but they weren’t authorized to work for or act on behalf of that county, according to a joint statement by both counties.
The women didn’t try to get any money or personal information that would typically be sought in an identity-theft scam, Lehman said.
Lehman said there’s no known connection to one party or organization or support of a political party. He said, however, that county and state officials have known about some individuals since 2020 who have used voter records to try to investigate possible voter fraud on their own.
“There is a group that state elections people are aware of that believes there are many, many people who are illegally voting with false names and false addresses,” Lehman said. “These groups have been claiming election fraud and have been out there for a while.”
No connection between those individuals and the current incidents has been determined, he said.
Elections officials said the new incidents don’t reflect how legitimate government election workers operate.
“We want to assure all New Yorkers that any employee of the state or county board of elections would conduct themselves in a professional manner and willingly present identification when engaging with voters,” said Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, the other co-executive director of the state Board of Elections. “When in doubt, please know you can always contact your state or county board of elections directly with any questions.”
State officials advise a voter who is approached by someone claiming to be an election official to get as much information from the visitor as possible, including names and license plate numbers, then to contact local police. Voters shouldn’t reveal any personal information, officials said.
“The ability to vote without fear or intimidation is one of our most sacred rights as American citizens, and it is unconscionable that anyone would even attempt to sabotage the sanctity of this bedrock democratic principle,” said Nassau County Legis. Joshua Lafazan (D-Woodbury). “We must all be alert and engaged to protect ourselves from being deceived by these malicious impostors.”
Nationally, in June 2021, media in Arizona reported on a “mysterious door-to-door survey”; in September 2022 in Colorado, two men knocked on a voter’s door claiming to be part of a “voter-verification project” and asking questions about the 2020 vote and how she cast her ballot.
Also in 2022, Washington state officials reported an effort canvassing voters door-to-door asking for information and their signatures by individuals wearing identification that stated, “Voter Verification Project — Election Volunteer.”
in February in Georgia, “amateur voter fraud hunters” used door-to-door canvassing to challenge voter registrations.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
