Skip to content
Politics
Link copied to clipboard

City Commissioner Singer accused of Election Day misconduct

A judge of elections claims Stephanie Singer abused her power by intimidating voters at the primary.

AN IMPASSIONED judge of elections from Strawberry Mansion let loose on City Commissioner Stephanie Singer yesterday, accusing her of everything from voter intimidation to creating havoc and lawlessness at a polling place during the May primary election.

"My community - my division - will never heal from this," Judge of Elections Bonita Cummings said during a City Commissioners' election board hearing yesterday.

Cummings, a committeewoman in the 28th Ward and judge of elections in the ward's 6th division, was one of several witnesses from election boards who testified about complaints of Election Day impropriety. Cummings has clashed with the commissioners' chairman, Anthony Clark, in the past.

"Is this stuff real or is it for play? If it's real, then [Singer] committed a crime," Cummings said. "That needs to be addressed. She needs to be recused. She cannot be objective. Who's going to protect this division in November?"

Cummings reiterated testimony she gave to the city commissioners on May 21, a day after votes had been tallied and when she claims Singer, along with members of her staff, overstepped their bounds by passing out campaign materials and using a loudspeaker, all inside the polling place.

"There is no basis for those allegations," Singer told the Daily News after the hearing.

There were visible tensions between Singer and Commissioner Al Schmidt during yesterday's hearing, as Schmidt made clear that it was not the place of the city commissioners to be at polling places on Election Day.

"There's a real obligation on us that people understand we run elections fairly, and we don't interfere with the conduct of the elections, which is the worst thing that we could possibly do," said Schmidt.

Asked about the 28th Ward, 6th division polling place incident, Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for District Attorney Seth Williams, said the office does not comment unless and until charges have been filed.

"Anybody who complained on Election Day about any impropriety, that is being investigated by the D.A.'s office," she said.