Orange County election officials: People verifying petitions door to door falsely claiming to be with BOE

Both the Democratic and Republican elections commissioners for Orange County tell News 12 that people are allowed to get ahold of someone else's petition and go door to door to try to disqualify or confirm the signatures, but you cannot claim you're with the Board of Elections while doing so.

News 12 Staff

Apr 12, 2023, 9:59 PM

Updated 549 days ago

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Orange County election officials are stepping in after people have visited Republican voters’ homes to sign petitions while claiming to work for the Board of Elections.
New Windsor resident Scott Hecht shared with News 12 a video from his Doorbell camera from Sunday that showed one of these incidents.
The video shows a man come to Hect’s door and say he's with the local board of elections and wants to verify Hecht's signature on a Republican candidate's petition to get on the June primary ballot for New Windsor town supervisor.
"They're going around misrepresenting themselves as who they are. I have it on video and audio, him doing so,” Hecht says.
County Board of Elections officials say they've gotten multiple reports of people doing this and say these people do not work for or with the board.
Both the Democratic and Republican elections commissioners for Orange County tell News 12 that people are allowed to get ahold of someone else's petition and go door to door to try to disqualify or confirm the signatures, but you cannot claim you're with the Board of Elections while doing so.
Elections officials have referred the matter to the Orange County district attorney.
Supervisor candidate and current town Council Member Steve Bedetti says it is his petition these signature checkers are investigating. He believes someone is trying to invalidate enough of his signatures, so he doesn't make the ballot.
Bedetti says he's getting calls from concerned petition-signers.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office says it received that referral from the Board of Elections but can't comment further on pending investigations.