The Hempstead Union Free School District on Long Island has been ordered to hold a new election for its school board after a district clerk was accused of tearing up and discarding ballots to manipulate the results in favor of the incumbent.
District Clerk April Keys is alleged to have destroyed ballots and facilitated their removal from her office to ensure board president Victor Pratt won his reelection bid. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Keys disposing of ripped ballots in a dumpster, according to a petition filed with the Education Department and cited by the New York Post.
Pratt was declared the winner of the election by a narrow margin of 81 votes. However, his performance in absentee balloting, where he secured 87 percent of the votes, contrasted sharply with his third-place finish in machine voting, where he received 27 percent of the ballots.
Three days after the election, Keys was placed on administrative leave. District Superintendent Gary Rush reportedly discovered a bag filled with destroyed ballots, which he stated were stolen. The custodian later led investigators to the bag, which had been left in a foot of water. Ballots for both Pratt and his main competitor, Gwendolyn Jackson, were found among the damaged documents.
The petition also included a statement from Jackson's campaign coordinator, who alleged that 120 mail-in ballots delivered to Keys' office were unaccounted for, with only 79 being officially counted.
Surveillance footage also purportedly shows Pratt carrying ballots out of the office, though he reportedly denied remembering such an incident. Investigators further accused the custodian of being directed by Keys to dispose of the ballots, with evidence suggesting Keys advised him to use a less visible staircase to avoid detection. Additional allegations suggest some ballots were filled out with identical handwriting, leading to accusations of forgery against Pratt and Keys.
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office is currently investigating the matter. State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa has mandated that a new election be held within 60 days, though a specific date has not yet been set.
"The Board appreciates the Commissioner’s expeditious review of this matter, which enables the District to move forward with the revote in accordance with the Commissioner’s ruling," a district spokesperson told The Post.
Neil Boyd, the current superintendent for Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES, has been appointed as the temporary clerk to oversee the upcoming election. The district initiated an internal investigation upon discovering the irregularities during the trustee election.