Preet isn’t even a voter
Mulls run, but didn’t register for yrs.
ALBANY — If former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has designs on running for state attorney general, he might want to register to vote first.
Bharara was purged from the voter rolls effective Jan. 31, 2006, according to records provided to the Daily News by the state Board of Elections.
He never registered during his time as U.S. attorney from 2009 to 2017, when he was fired by President Trump. Nor did he register after he left the job, according to records.
State Board of Elections spokeswoman Cheryl Couser said there is no provision in law to shield the names from the public of high-profile voters like a prosecutor.
“It’s the ultimate hypocrisy,” said Republican consultant O’Brien Murray. “He’s trying to tell us what to do and he won’t even register to vote.”
Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, expressed surprise Bharara is not registered. “We urge all Americans and New Yorkers to vote, but whether or not he chooses to do it, it’s a free country,” he said.
Bharara could not be reached for comment.
Online records for the Maryland Board of Elections show that Bharara, while serving as counsel to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in D.C., registered to vote in 2006 as a Democrat while living in Bethesda.
But a source close to Bharara said that upon taking over as Manhattan U.S. attorney, Bharara chose not to register in order to maintain an aura of impartiality and nonpartisanship.
Someone running for office in New York does not legally have to be registered to vote under the law, Couser said.
But if Bharara wants to run on the Democratic or another line, he should register for that party before petitioning for the opportunity to get on the ballot begins June 5, Couser said.
He could also circulate nominating petitions to run as an independent, which would not require him to register, Couser said.
Or he could remain unregistered and seek what is known as a Wilson-Pakula authorization from a party that allows a candidate not enrolled in that party to run on the line.
He also has one other option — Reform Party Chairman Curtis Sliwa said the group’s executive committee on Thursday unanimously recommended Bharara be nominated for attorney general at the party’s convention on Sunday.