Allegations of voter fraud and discrimination weigh against Staten Island council count

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A manual recount of the Republican primary elections for a Staten Island city council seat began on Wednesday in front of the two rival candidates, one denying accusations of voter fraud and the other of anti-immigrant discrimination.

Staff at the New York City Council of Elections began counting 8,577 ballots cast in the council’s 50th district, which spans a central part of the island. A slim margin of just 42 votes separates the two candidates, with David Carr in the lead after the tabulations of the ranked votes. Marko Kepi ended election night with 647 votes behind, but narrowed that margin after collecting three times as many postal votes as Carr.

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Marko Kepi Gwynne Hogan / Gothamist

Above the recount looms the threat of multiple investigations into potential electoral fraud. Kepi, who attended Stop the Steal rallies last fall in favor of former President Donald Trump, is currently under investigation for allegedly fabricating mail-in ballots to rig elections in his favor .

In the Council of Elections warehouse on the south shore of Staten Island, overlooking New York Harbor, Kepi denied the allegations.

Honestly, I feel like I’m back in Communist Albania, said Kepi, a former US Navy born in Albania. Kepi ​​insisted that his campaign carried out a valid postal voting operation among a tight-knit group of Albanians and Albanian-Americans who live in the district and that the Staten Island Republican Party was trying to undermine its campaign.

They have found all the loopholes, all possible means to disqualify voters, he said. I campaigned against the party candidate and the party lost and now the party does not want to give up. So they do everything to prevent us from claiming our victory.

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David Carr Gwynne Hogan / Gothamist

Carr, who works as the chief of staff to limited-time council member Steven Matteo, has raised concerns over 1,000 mail-in ballots collected by the Kepis campaign to the election council and district attorney. of Staten Island. The prosecutor’s office is investigating; The Elections Council called for help from state and federal authorities to investigate potential electoral fraud earlier this month, highlighting signatures on mail ballot envelopes that did not match council records and one case in which a deceased person voted.

Chapin Fay, spokesman for Kepi, responded with accusations of discrimination, accusing the Carrs campaign of choosing people with Albanian names for the objections.

They did not oppose Joe Smith. They oppose Kepis and all other Albanian names, Chapin said. I think in any other electoral council across the country there would be a media storm about this. It’s crazy.

Also at the warehouse to investigate the Wednesday count, Carr denied any discrimination against Albanians and said the problems in this race showed why New York should impose stricter limits on absentee voting.

New York State is unfortunately not a voter ID rule state, the only defense we have against voter fraud is the signature match process and that’s what we did, a he declared. I believe every legal vote should be counted and that is what is happening here today.

Carr and Kepi have sued and will appear before state Supreme Court Judge Ralph Porzio likely in mid-August after the electoral board completes the manual vote recount.

Kepis’ campaign said they were ready to bring in any voters whose mail ballots are in question to testify. Robert Straniere, a former state assembly member and lawyer for Kepi, said the race winner could ultimately be decided by a court.

So, as Yogi Berra said, it is not over until it is over, he said.

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