Trump-supporting GOP congressman faces voter fraud charges

Rep. Lee Zeldin (RN.Y.), the Republican candidate in the New York gubernatorial race who backed former President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, is facing allegations that he allegedly submitted fake signatures to get an extra line on the ballot in the November election. .

The New York State Board of Elections removed 12,868 of 52,096 signatures submitted by Zeldin in his campaign’s bid to also run on the state Independence Party’s November ballot. according to the Gotham Gazette. Under New York’s voting system, candidates are allowed to appear on more than one party line on the ballot, the outlet reports.

The discarded signatures put Zeldin under the 45,000 valid signatures needed to add a third to the ballot, The Hill reported.

The action stemmed from a challenge by Andrew Kolstee, secretary of the state’s Libertarian Party, and Diane Sare, independent candidate for the US Senate.

The Libertarian Party claimed that more than 11,000 of the discarded signatures were photocopies of previously submitted signatures, the news site reported.

“The Zeldin campaign’s attempt to defraud the electorate and pose as an independent campaign by filing thousands of photocopied signatures is a slap in the face to New York State voters and the electoral process,” Kolstee said in a statement. a statement.

Zeldin has an “outside shot” of appearing on the line if a judge overturns the board’s decision, according to the Albany Times-Union.

A spokesperson for Zeldin told the Gotham Gazette that the campaign denied making “photocopies.”

Sarah Steiner, a veteran election lawyer, told the news site that it came as no surprise to her that all of the signatures on the petition were invalid.

“Unless someone accidentally mixed up pages that they photocopied and then paginated, in which case they would still be invalid, this is a massive attempt at fraud,” Steiner said.

Jay Jacobs, chairman of the state Democratic Party, told the Albany Times-Union that Zeldin supported Trump’s 2020 voter fraud allegations.

“Zeldin submitting 11,000 fake signatures only underscores his hypocrisy and proves he is willing to sell New Yorkers another ‘big lie’ to benefit his failing campaign,” Jacobs said.

The newspaper pointed out that Zeldin has an Election Integrity Task Force page on its campaign site.

Zeldin was among the Congressional Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

He is expected to stay to the Conservative Party line with his running mate – Lt. Governor candidate Alison Esposito – when he takes on Governor Kathy Hochul and Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado in November.