State probe finds South Blooming Grove election was intentionally hidden; AG asked to overturn results
Sen. James Skoufis say a village official admitted by phone that the election date was moved to Oct. 22 because local yeshivas were closed, reducing, he says, the chances that residents would gather and spread word about the vote.
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A New York state investigation into South Blooming Grove’s Oct. 22 village election found it was intentionally structured to keep voters from the polls — and that some village officials may be serving in office illegally, according to Sen. James Skoufis, who chairs the Senate Investigations Committee.
Skoufis told News 12 that a village official admitted by phone that the election date was moved to Oct. 22 because local yeshivas were closed, reducing, he says, the chances that residents would gather and spread word about the vote.
Skoufis says that decision “shut down” one of the main ways people in the community learn about local government activity.
According to Skoufis, the month-long probe uncovered multiple steps that limited public awareness:
Public meeting minutes stopped being posted for roughly five months, beginning when discussions about the election date first began.
A required legal notice was moved to a weekly newspaper three towns away, which he says has virtually no readership in South Blooming Grove.
A special meeting to change the election date was announced with just one hour of notice, in the form of a flyer taped to the door of Village Hall.
No emails, texts, mailers, robocalls, website updates or social media posts were used to notify voters about the election — despite all being standard practices in most communities.
Skoufis says turnout reflects what his office found — about 130 people voted out of roughly 1,800 registered voters, compared to nearly 1,000 voters participating in the town’s last contested race.
The investigation also determined that the mayor and two trustees have been serving illegal four-year terms, because the village never filed the required paperwork with the state to legally extend those terms from two years to four - an issue that residents have been sounding the alarm on for years.
Residents later raised additional concerns to the senator, including allegations that blank absentee ballots were collected and later filled out by village staff — something Skoufis says would be criminal if proven.
In a response sent to Albany, village officials reportedly blamed the lack of posted notices and online updates on an old website platform and staffing shortages.
Calling the findings “one of the most troubling cases” his committee has seen, Skoufis has now formally asked the New York attorney general to launch a quo warranto proceeding, a legal action that can invalidate an election and remove officials who are found to be unlawfully in office.
“If we don’t have free and fair opportunities to elect our leaders, nothing else matters,” Skoufis said.
News 12 has reached out to the village and the Attorney General’s Office for comment.
The AG confirmed it is reviewing the matter.
