The Story of the Green Party Primary in Ulster County District 12
So I am starting to see the nasty side of electoral politics up close.
And I think people need to know about it. If you know me well, you know that I'm not exactly someone who is going to sit back and keep my mouth closed when there is something wrong going on.
Let me tell you the story about the recent primary for the Green Party ballot line in Plattekill District 12. A primary that was for the position of Ulster County Legislator.
The situation started out as pretty straightforward. There were about 15 Green Party members in our district when I checked early this summer. For me to be able to have the "opportunity to ballot" (OTB), I needed to have at least one of them sign a petition with my name indicating that they were OK allowing me to have the opportunity to ballot.
So I did and that all took place without incident.
As the primary approached, I took steps to target the Green voters of the district.Working conscientiously, I wrote a personalized letter to each and every member of the Green Party in the district a few weeks ahead of the primary. I wanted them to know who I am and what I stand for.
Then this happened:
* On September 7, five days before the primary, I asked the folks at the Board of Elections for an updated list of the registered members of the Green Party in the district. I was surprised to see that the number of Green party voters in the district was now up to 25. There had apparently seen a surge of voters in the district who really wanted to sign up for the Green Party! This was interesting to me because, based on my calculations, prior to then, only about 15/~4,400 voters in the district naturally had chosen the Green party as their affiliation. The odds, then, of one new voter choosing that party would thus be .003. The odds of 12 new registrants in the district ALL choosing that party would be, then, 003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003* - my calculator almost blew up when I put that in! It gave me scientific notation - which implied, in regular terms - that the odds by chance alone of this occurring would be incredibly close to zero. Now I teach statistics and I am sensitive to very-low probability events - these are events that likely have not happened naturally. Further, with but one exception, every single recently registered member of the Green Party lived in the same exact housing complex. What would be the odds of THAT by chance? I decided to give my calculator a break ...
* Later on September 7: I decided that the situation simply is what it is and that the best I could do would be to knock on the doors of each of these newly registered voters, explain that my platform and experiences are actually close to the values of the Green Party (which is why I tried for this line in the first place), and that they should consider going out to vote for me (via a write-in process) on Primary Day, September 12. I went and knocked on the first door. A nice young man answered the door. I handed him my literature and explained who I was and encouraged him to go out on Primary Day to write my name in to support me for the Green Party line. He expressed that he and his partner both identified with relatively liberal values. OK, I figured this should be easy at that point. But then he surprised me - he said that it was "too late" and that he had "already voted" - for "the other guy!" I was pretty shocked. What in the world did he mean? Well it turns out that "the other guy" (who was almost definitely my opponent in this race - who was named that day by another new Green Party member) not only asked him to register to vote - and encouraged him to register for the Green party - but also had him fill out an application to vote via absentee ballot. This guy that I was talking with did not indicate any plans that he had to be away from the county on the day of the primary. In fact, get this: I later, via the Freedom of Information Law process, asked the Board of Elections for a copy of this guy's absentee ballot application. It said that he would be "out of county" between 9/1/2017 and 12/31/2017. I talked with him on September 7!!! And we were IN Ulster County!
Going back to that afternoon on 9/7 ... I was kind of confused when I talked with this guy - but then I figured it out. It seemed that my opponent had provided absentee ballot applications to all of these newly registered Green Party voters - voters that, in all likelihood, as far as I can tell, he himself had register to vote.
It gets worse! I then knock on the doors of all of the other newly registered Green Party voters. I spoke with several - while several did not answer the door. It turns out that my fears were confirmed: They were pretty much all given absentee ballot applications to complete.
The Absentee Ballot Applications
Here are some details on these applications that I think should be known by anyone interested in this race - or anyone with an interest in the integrity of our electoral processes:
1. They were all clearly filled out in the same handwriting (with the exception of the signatures).
2. They all state that the individual is going to be "out of county" for a period of roughly four months - in each case, ending with 12/31/2017.
3. While some of the start dates varied from one another, they were all around 9/1 if not 9/1 exactly.
4. I spoke with several of these individuals in person in Ulster County on 9/7.
5. Each application claims that the voter will need an absentee ballot for the primary - and in each case, the method for delivering that ballot was designated as to be picked up at the board of elections by our current legislator, Kevin Roberts. There were zero exceptions.
6. Each application claims that the voter will need an absentee ballot for the general election on 11/7. In each case, the method of delivering the ballot was designated as to be mailed to the home address of our current legislator, Kevin Roberts. There were zero exceptions.
7. In multiple cases, the ballots were signed on a date (e.g., 9/7) that was within the window of time claimed by the voter as "out of county" (e.g., 9/1 - 12/31).
8. 10 of these 12 absentee ballots were cast by relatively new Green Party members who had signed up in August of 2017 or later.
9. It is also noteworthy that in this election, the ratio of the number of absentee ballots to the number of in-person votes cast is 12:4. Three times as many votes were cast by absentee ballots as were cast in person. From a statistical standpoint, this is a significant anomaly with a likelihood of happening by chance of less than 1% (when compared to this ratio for other Ulster County elections in the same general time period).
Voters Witnessed in County on Primary Day
On the date of the primary, three volunteers for my campaign went out and knocked on doors of the Green Party members - to encourage them to come out and write my name in at the Town Hall where the election was taking place. They were provided a written document that included the section of NYS Election Law indicating that an in-person vote would supersede an absentee vote and that there are no penalties for voting in person if one has already filled out an absentee ballot.
One of my designees reported speaking to two of these voters in person on the day of the primary during the window that the polls were open.
Two of my other designees reported speaking, concurrently, to another one of these voters in person during the window of time that the polls were open.
The Results of the Primary
It turned out that four votes were cast in person on 9/12. It was a tie! The vote was then to be determined by the absentee ballots. Well anyone who has read up to this point can probably guess the results that the absentee ballot count would reveal.
So at the advice of several people, I called an attorney and requested that the absentee ballots be challenged. We temporarily stopped the ballots from being opened. As part of the process, I then secured another attorney and we decided to take steps to file a law suit as we saw many problems with how this process had played out.
We went to court on 9/28 and the judge spoke with the attorneys for both sides. He essentially asked my attorney to submit a brief that elaborated on issues such as precedent. My attorney indicated to me that we were going to have to summon all of the 12 voters in question to court via the appropriate process.
The Court of Public Opinion
At this point, we examined our options and thought about the broader goals of the campaign. Getting the Green Party line is really a detail - certainly not the primary goal of the campaign. The goal of this campaign is, unequivocally and without any question whatsoever, to win.
We thought about whether fighting this lawsuit and putting several voters in the district up on the stand would be the best approach for the broader goals involved here. I know that if I were summoned to court and required to take the stand for any reason, I'd likely be at least a bit uncomfortable. I don't want to put all of these people in that position. As far as I can tell, they have already gone through some stress in this process.
We decided this morning (9/29) to drop the case within the courts. But, of course, given the concerns we have about what has transpired, we have no intention to drop what happened in the court of public opinion. What transpired regarding the Green Party Primary of Ulster County District 12 simply is too important to hide from the voters. To my mind, this story reveals a great deal and needs to be known so that the voters in the general election, 11/7/2017, can make the most informed decision possible.
The Power of the Pen is the Power of the First Amendment
If you know me well, then you know that I am a huge advocate of the First Amendment - including freedom of speech and the ability to criticize government officials when warranted. To my mind, what happened with the Green Party Primary in UC District 12 this year was problematic in many ways. And in the name of the electoral process that sits at the bedrock of our democracy, it is my obligation to not brush this under the carpet.
Clean elections matter in a democracy. And it is up to each and every one of us to stand for clean elections and for the democratic process - for without the democratic process, the entire foundation of our nation will collapse. And we cannot stand for that.
The Voters of Ulster County District 12 Will Have a Choice on November 7
If my opponent chooses to continue to use such tactics as he continues his campaign, that is his choice.
But I would be delinquent if I did not point out the following: The voters of Ulster County District 12 have a choice to make as well - and that choice will be made on November 7, 2017.
Let's not forget that our tax dollars pay for our elected officials. As such, to my mind, it is our obligation to make sure that our elected officials are of the highest moral caliber - people who lead by example. There is enough selfishness in the world right now. We need elected leaders who take an approach that decidedly works toward the greater good.
If you are a voter in the district, I urge you to contact me (Glenn Geher; email at geherg@gmail.com) to discuss any aspect of my campaign, my experience, platform, etc. And I urge you to give my candidacy your fullest consideration. Democrat, Republican, Green, Conservative, etc. - at the end of the day, we area all in this together. And we must absolutely require our elected leaders to meet the highest of standards.
This is our democracy and it is up to each and every one of us to actively participate to help make sure that our town, county, state, and nation are all on the best path forward.
See the Data Yourself
If you don't believe any aspect of this story or if you simply would like to have this information yourself, you can get all of the information that I cite here easily and free of charge. You'd just need to request the relevant information (e.g., scanned copies of all the absentee ballots for the UC 12 Green Primary of 9/7/2017) via the Freedom of Information Law form, linked here. Be sure to ask for the information as a PDF via email to avoid costs.
And I think people need to know about it. If you know me well, you know that I'm not exactly someone who is going to sit back and keep my mouth closed when there is something wrong going on.
Let me tell you the story about the recent primary for the Green Party ballot line in Plattekill District 12. A primary that was for the position of Ulster County Legislator.
The situation started out as pretty straightforward. There were about 15 Green Party members in our district when I checked early this summer. For me to be able to have the "opportunity to ballot" (OTB), I needed to have at least one of them sign a petition with my name indicating that they were OK allowing me to have the opportunity to ballot.
So I did and that all took place without incident.
As the primary approached, I took steps to target the Green voters of the district.Working conscientiously, I wrote a personalized letter to each and every member of the Green Party in the district a few weeks ahead of the primary. I wanted them to know who I am and what I stand for.
Then this happened:
* On September 7, five days before the primary, I asked the folks at the Board of Elections for an updated list of the registered members of the Green Party in the district. I was surprised to see that the number of Green party voters in the district was now up to 25. There had apparently seen a surge of voters in the district who really wanted to sign up for the Green Party! This was interesting to me because, based on my calculations, prior to then, only about 15/~4,400 voters in the district naturally had chosen the Green party as their affiliation. The odds, then, of one new voter choosing that party would thus be .003. The odds of 12 new registrants in the district ALL choosing that party would be, then, 003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003*.003* - my calculator almost blew up when I put that in! It gave me scientific notation - which implied, in regular terms - that the odds by chance alone of this occurring would be incredibly close to zero. Now I teach statistics and I am sensitive to very-low probability events - these are events that likely have not happened naturally. Further, with but one exception, every single recently registered member of the Green Party lived in the same exact housing complex. What would be the odds of THAT by chance? I decided to give my calculator a break ...
* Later on September 7: I decided that the situation simply is what it is and that the best I could do would be to knock on the doors of each of these newly registered voters, explain that my platform and experiences are actually close to the values of the Green Party (which is why I tried for this line in the first place), and that they should consider going out to vote for me (via a write-in process) on Primary Day, September 12. I went and knocked on the first door. A nice young man answered the door. I handed him my literature and explained who I was and encouraged him to go out on Primary Day to write my name in to support me for the Green Party line. He expressed that he and his partner both identified with relatively liberal values. OK, I figured this should be easy at that point. But then he surprised me - he said that it was "too late" and that he had "already voted" - for "the other guy!" I was pretty shocked. What in the world did he mean? Well it turns out that "the other guy" (who was almost definitely my opponent in this race - who was named that day by another new Green Party member) not only asked him to register to vote - and encouraged him to register for the Green party - but also had him fill out an application to vote via absentee ballot. This guy that I was talking with did not indicate any plans that he had to be away from the county on the day of the primary. In fact, get this: I later, via the Freedom of Information Law process, asked the Board of Elections for a copy of this guy's absentee ballot application. It said that he would be "out of county" between 9/1/2017 and 12/31/2017. I talked with him on September 7!!! And we were IN Ulster County!
Going back to that afternoon on 9/7 ... I was kind of confused when I talked with this guy - but then I figured it out. It seemed that my opponent had provided absentee ballot applications to all of these newly registered Green Party voters - voters that, in all likelihood, as far as I can tell, he himself had register to vote.
It gets worse! I then knock on the doors of all of the other newly registered Green Party voters. I spoke with several - while several did not answer the door. It turns out that my fears were confirmed: They were pretty much all given absentee ballot applications to complete.
The Absentee Ballot Applications
Here are some details on these applications that I think should be known by anyone interested in this race - or anyone with an interest in the integrity of our electoral processes:
1. They were all clearly filled out in the same handwriting (with the exception of the signatures).
2. They all state that the individual is going to be "out of county" for a period of roughly four months - in each case, ending with 12/31/2017.
3. While some of the start dates varied from one another, they were all around 9/1 if not 9/1 exactly.
4. I spoke with several of these individuals in person in Ulster County on 9/7.
5. Each application claims that the voter will need an absentee ballot for the primary - and in each case, the method for delivering that ballot was designated as to be picked up at the board of elections by our current legislator, Kevin Roberts. There were zero exceptions.
6. Each application claims that the voter will need an absentee ballot for the general election on 11/7. In each case, the method of delivering the ballot was designated as to be mailed to the home address of our current legislator, Kevin Roberts. There were zero exceptions.
7. In multiple cases, the ballots were signed on a date (e.g., 9/7) that was within the window of time claimed by the voter as "out of county" (e.g., 9/1 - 12/31).
8. 10 of these 12 absentee ballots were cast by relatively new Green Party members who had signed up in August of 2017 or later.
9. It is also noteworthy that in this election, the ratio of the number of absentee ballots to the number of in-person votes cast is 12:4. Three times as many votes were cast by absentee ballots as were cast in person. From a statistical standpoint, this is a significant anomaly with a likelihood of happening by chance of less than 1% (when compared to this ratio for other Ulster County elections in the same general time period).
Voters Witnessed in County on Primary Day
On the date of the primary, three volunteers for my campaign went out and knocked on doors of the Green Party members - to encourage them to come out and write my name in at the Town Hall where the election was taking place. They were provided a written document that included the section of NYS Election Law indicating that an in-person vote would supersede an absentee vote and that there are no penalties for voting in person if one has already filled out an absentee ballot.
One of my designees reported speaking to two of these voters in person on the day of the primary during the window that the polls were open.
Two of my other designees reported speaking, concurrently, to another one of these voters in person during the window of time that the polls were open.
The Results of the Primary
It turned out that four votes were cast in person on 9/12. It was a tie! The vote was then to be determined by the absentee ballots. Well anyone who has read up to this point can probably guess the results that the absentee ballot count would reveal.
So at the advice of several people, I called an attorney and requested that the absentee ballots be challenged. We temporarily stopped the ballots from being opened. As part of the process, I then secured another attorney and we decided to take steps to file a law suit as we saw many problems with how this process had played out.
We went to court on 9/28 and the judge spoke with the attorneys for both sides. He essentially asked my attorney to submit a brief that elaborated on issues such as precedent. My attorney indicated to me that we were going to have to summon all of the 12 voters in question to court via the appropriate process.
The Court of Public Opinion
At this point, we examined our options and thought about the broader goals of the campaign. Getting the Green Party line is really a detail - certainly not the primary goal of the campaign. The goal of this campaign is, unequivocally and without any question whatsoever, to win.
We thought about whether fighting this lawsuit and putting several voters in the district up on the stand would be the best approach for the broader goals involved here. I know that if I were summoned to court and required to take the stand for any reason, I'd likely be at least a bit uncomfortable. I don't want to put all of these people in that position. As far as I can tell, they have already gone through some stress in this process.
We decided this morning (9/29) to drop the case within the courts. But, of course, given the concerns we have about what has transpired, we have no intention to drop what happened in the court of public opinion. What transpired regarding the Green Party Primary of Ulster County District 12 simply is too important to hide from the voters. To my mind, this story reveals a great deal and needs to be known so that the voters in the general election, 11/7/2017, can make the most informed decision possible.
The Power of the Pen is the Power of the First Amendment
If you know me well, then you know that I am a huge advocate of the First Amendment - including freedom of speech and the ability to criticize government officials when warranted. To my mind, what happened with the Green Party Primary in UC District 12 this year was problematic in many ways. And in the name of the electoral process that sits at the bedrock of our democracy, it is my obligation to not brush this under the carpet.
Clean elections matter in a democracy. And it is up to each and every one of us to stand for clean elections and for the democratic process - for without the democratic process, the entire foundation of our nation will collapse. And we cannot stand for that.
The Voters of Ulster County District 12 Will Have a Choice on November 7
If my opponent chooses to continue to use such tactics as he continues his campaign, that is his choice.
But I would be delinquent if I did not point out the following: The voters of Ulster County District 12 have a choice to make as well - and that choice will be made on November 7, 2017.
Let's not forget that our tax dollars pay for our elected officials. As such, to my mind, it is our obligation to make sure that our elected officials are of the highest moral caliber - people who lead by example. There is enough selfishness in the world right now. We need elected leaders who take an approach that decidedly works toward the greater good.
If you are a voter in the district, I urge you to contact me (Glenn Geher; email at geherg@gmail.com) to discuss any aspect of my campaign, my experience, platform, etc. And I urge you to give my candidacy your fullest consideration. Democrat, Republican, Green, Conservative, etc. - at the end of the day, we area all in this together. And we must absolutely require our elected leaders to meet the highest of standards.
This is our democracy and it is up to each and every one of us to actively participate to help make sure that our town, county, state, and nation are all on the best path forward.
See the Data Yourself
If you don't believe any aspect of this story or if you simply would like to have this information yourself, you can get all of the information that I cite here easily and free of charge. You'd just need to request the relevant information (e.g., scanned copies of all the absentee ballots for the UC 12 Green Primary of 9/7/2017) via the Freedom of Information Law form, linked here. Be sure to ask for the information as a PDF via email to avoid costs.
An example of one of these absentee ballot applications, with identifying information removed, is found below. Relevant points are demarcated therein.
 |
| This is one of the 12 absentee ballot applications in question. Note that they all have a similar range of absence and identical methods are demarcated for how the ballots should be handled - in each case, the candidate, who is our current legislator, is being authorized to fully handle these ballots. |