Lawsuit claims Rockland votes were miscounted in 2024 election: Were they? What we know
Diane Sare, of the Lyndon LaRouche Party, and two other voters claim in court papers that the Rockland Board of Elections shortchanged her in the vote tabulation. Although the so-called discrepancies won't change the outcomes, they fall under the principle of election integrity, according to a watchdog group that filed the legal action.
The legal action, filed by SMART Legislation, also questioned some of the vote totals, specifically in Ramapo districts, where Hasidic Jews traditionally vote in large numbers as a bloc for specific candidates and shut out other candidates.
Rockland attorneys and election officials dispute the claims in the legal action filed Dec. 24 in the New York State Supreme Court in Rockland.
"We have full faith the BOE (Board of Elections) conducted a free & fair election & that every vote was counted correctly," county government spokesperson Beth Cefalu said Friday.
She said the County Executive's Office has no operational oversight over the Board of Elections, referring further questions to the state.
Justice Rachel Tanguay has ordered both sides to conduct discovery into the evidence and take testimony. The lawsuit seeks a hand recount of the thousands of votes for president and the U.S. Senate races in November, according to the group. The next scheduled court session is Sept. 22.
'There is clear evidence that the Senate results are incorrect, and there are statistical indications that the presidential results are highly unlikely,' said Lulu Friesdat, founder and executive director of SMART Legislation. "If the results are incorrect, it is a violation of the constitutional rights of each person who voted in the 2024 Rockland County general election."
Friesdat said the best way to determine if the results are correct is to examine the paper ballots in a full, public, transparent hand recount of all presidential and senate ballots in Rockland County.
"We believe it's vitally important, especially in the current environment, to be absolutely confident about the results of the election," she said.
What's being contested are a handful of votes and statistical claims about those votes for president in Rockland, according to the legal action.
Sworn voter affidavits reveal missing ballots, the lawsuit claims. The complaint claims more voters have sworn they voted for Sare than the votes counted and certified by the Board of Elections.
For example, in Rockland District 39, nine voters signed sworn statements saying they voted for Sare for Senate. The Board of Elections recorded five votes, according to the legal action.
In District 62, five voters said they voted for Sare while the Board of Elections recorded three votes, the legal action claims.
The group's analysis of the Rockland vote cited what's called drop-off irregularities. A drop-off is a measure of the difference, in this case, for example, between the presidential candidate and a major down-ballot candidate of the same party.
SMART Legislation offered analysis by Max Bonamente, Ph.D., professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Alabama and the author of the textbook, 'Statistics and Analysis of Scientific Data."
'These data would require extreme sociological or political causes for their explanation, and would benefit from further assurances as to their fidelity," Bonamente determined, according to SMART Legislation.
Sare received 39,421 votes statewide — less than half a percentage point. Gillibrand won her race 59%-41% over Republican businessman Mike Sapraicone.
Vote tallies in Rockland were as follows: 72,003 (53%) for Gillibrand, 64,082 (47%) for Sapraicone. There were 15,366 ballots left blank, meaning voters skipped that race. The Rockland presidential vote broke down as follows: 83,543 for Trump, 65,880 for Democrat Kamala Harris, and 1,316 blanks.
The legal action offers two theories, according to a release from SMART Legislation, affiliated with SMART Elections.
A large positive drop-off indicates an overperformance by a candidate, meaning the candidate received more votes than is typical.
A large negative drop-off indicates an underperformance by a candidate, meaning the candidate received fewer votes than is typical, and could signify votes are missing from the candidate's totals.
The Republican 23% drop-off of Trump's totals in Rockland exceeds the 2024 Republican Senate candidate. This illustrates that the presidential candidate far outperformed his down-ballot counterpart, Sapraicone, according to the lawsuit.
The Democratic drop-off in Rockland was negative at 9%, indicating the percentage by which Harris' vote total was below that of the Democratic Senate candidate, Gillibrand. The lawsuit claims this is a highly unusual phenomenon that was repeated across the state and across the country. Rockland County is the first county where it is being formally investigated, SMART Legislation stated.
In Ramapo, vote totals can become skewed by the Hasidic Jewish bloc vote. For example, the 2024 results show in Ramapo District 35 covering the Viznitz Hasidic community, Trump beat Harris by a vote of 552 to 0. Harris received zero votes in four Ramapo districts out of the county's 122 precincts and was trounced by Trump in several others.
In the same district, Gillibrand easily beat Sapraicone. Across New York, Gillibrand received around 90,000 more votes than Harris, while Sapraicone received around 330,000 fewer votes than Trump.
Rockland Republican Elections Commissioner Patricia Giblin told The Poynter Institute's Polifact that the District 35 election results reflect the area's longstanding trends. The Orthodox Jewish population "has consistently and overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates in the past elections," Giblin said.
She said the Board of Elections "thoroughly reviewed the results and confirmed no irregularities, fraud or hacking."
The legal action seeks:
A transparent hand recount of all presidential and senate ballots in Rockland County to include all ballots cast, regardless of when or how they were submitted.
Hold a special election for president and Senate in Rockland.
Assign a court-appointed monitor to oversee the special election.
Assign a court-appointed monitor to develop, implement, and oversee mandatory best practices for the Board of Elections by creating a process to guarantee the public that all votes are being counted accurately
Develop and implement an audit process that counts every vote accurately
Allow access for the public to monitor all of these developments in real time, and via Freedom of Information requests
Read the lawsuit below.
New York State Team Reporter Chris McKenna contributed to this article.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com, Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Lawsuit claims Rockland votes miscounted in 2024 election. Were they?
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