Board of Elections Certified Dead People’s Votes, Says It Had No Choice
Just 16 votes gave a Brooklyn Council primary win to MAGA candidate George Sarantopolos over Brooklyn GOP chair Richie Barsamian, even as evidence of fraudulent ballots mounts.
The city Board of Elections certified the results of a tightly contested Brooklyn Republican City Council primary Tuesday — and maintains that it had no choice but to count the ballots cast in the names of multiple dead people and at least one living person who did not vote.
MAGA candidate George Sarantopoulos edged out a 16-vote win against county Republican party chair Richie Barsamian in the primary to replace term-limited Councilmember Justin Brannan as a criminal probe of alleged vote fraud proceeds, with multiple Board of Elections employees under investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney.
Before counting the ballots, the board’s Brooklyn commissioners voted to invalidate 22 “potentially fraudulent” ballots cast at the Amalgamated Warbasse cooperative complex in Coney Island, the board said in a statement last week. The board declined to comment further on why these paper ballots were tossed out and said it also referred this instance of fraud to the district attorney for further investigation.
But the ballots cast in the name of Bay Ridge resident William Allen, who has not voted in years, and in the names of deceased individuals Antoinette Garzaniti and Juliet Windvand, had to be counted in accordance with state election law, according to Vincent Ignizio, the board’s deputy executive director.
“After election officials review each ballot envelope and it is determined to be valid, the ballot inside is separated from the voter information and cannot be uncounted,” said Ignizio.
The New York Times identified a third deceased person whose ballot was cast.
Who is responsible for submitting the fraudulent ballots is still unknown. As party chair, Barsamian holds the authority to appoint Board of Elections staff, and sources say law enforcement has seized phones and home computers from several workers in the district.
In a statement released after the results were certified, Sarantopolos urged District Attorney Eric Gonzalez to investigate.
“This certification confirms what we’ve said from the beginning. When every legitimate vote is counted, we win. But we must do better. Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike need to know they can trust our election system,” said Sarantopolos.
Barsamian did not respond to requests for comment.
Kayla Santosuosso, the Democrat who will face off against Sarantopoulos in November’s general election, first alerted the Board of Elections to the irregularities — and says she’s concerned about what will happen in November.
“I’m worried that these instances of fraud are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Santosuosso. “It seems very strange that there would only be three of these ballots.”
“If the BOE had gone through a basic, minimal investigation before certifying, we would have been able to understand the scope of the fraud. But now we can’t — and none of this voter information was private.”
The internal probe began after William Allen’s son Justin, a Bay Ridge resident, contacted Brannan after his father, who had not voted, received a notice from the Board of Elections asking for a correction to an absentee ballot submitted in his name.
Santosuosso, who worked as Brannan’s counsel, reviewed Board of Elections voter history cards and discovered two absentee ballots mailed in the names of individuals suspected to be deceased. Santosuosso said her campaign alerted the Board of Elections to the issue.
Santosuosso said it is up to candidates’ to alert city agencies to potential voter fraud, and that this investigation raises concern about what will happen in this year’s general election. The Board of Elections is jointly governed and staffed by appointees of the Democratic and Republican parties.
“It is our responsibility as Council candidates to ensure these elections are fair and free,” she said.
This week, the New York Young Republicans Club called for Barsamian to concede the race, sending out an email headlined “Richie for Rikers.” Club President Stefano Forte says voter fraud on either side of the political aisle is unacceptable and can erode trust in local elections.
“This cannot be something that goes away and fizzles, and we need to know where these fraudulent ballots came from. We should have a very clear investigation to see who's to blame and who stands to benefit,” said Forte.
