Voting fraud charged in District 2 City Council race
City officials have voided six absentee ballots in an increasingly contentious District 2 City Council race amid allegations of mishandling by one campaign’s workers.
Officials discarded the ballots and met with a dozen residents yesterday after the Chinese Progressive Association and its political wing, Chinese Progressive Political Action, accused members of Mike Kelley’s campaign of fraud. The CPPA has endorsed Kelley’s opponent, Ed Flynn, but CPA co-chairman Lydia Lowe said the allegations were not political.
“There are those of us who are endorsing Ed Flynn, but we have a long history of standing up for voters’ rights in the community,” Lowe said. “It’s not about who wins or loses, it’s about having a fair election.”
Absentee voters place their ballots in an envelope and then sign and seal it before sending it to the city before election day. In a letter to election commissioners, the groups claimed Kelley campaigners helped more than 100 Chinatown residents get absentee ballots, but then took them away before they were filled out in signed, but unsealed envelopes.
Kelley campaign manager Brian Sowydra said he had “no knowledge of any such activity” and slammed the two groups for implying fraud.
“The Kelley campaign firmly denounces any form of vote manipulation. We set the highest standards for our campaign and we are outraged at the baseless allegations by an organization supporting our opponent,” Sowydra said in a statement.
Flynn said in a statement, “Fixing votes is a deceitful violation of public trust. It is unconscionable to use trickery to snatch ballots from and violate the constitutional rights of elderly nonEnglish-speaking residents.”
Elections Commissioner Dion Irish said election officials will hold off on counting absentee ballots in Chinatown until the end of election day on Tuesday to give those voters time to cast new votes. He said no one at yesterday’s meeting raised additional concerns and that the Election Department is “not authorized” to further investigate the complaints beyond sending a mailing to people who applied for absentee ballots.