Politics on the Hudson

Westchester County Legislature candidate Sandy Annabi, a Yonkers councilwoman, is asking her supporters to contact the Justice Department’s voting rights hotline at 800-253-3931 if they encounter unfair treatment at the polls on Election Day.

Annabi is running on minor party lines in the 17th Legislative District against Democratic incumbent Jose Alvarado, who beat her in the primary by five votes.

Annabi has claimed voter fraud in the primary and she has sent her allegations to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and federal officials, though none have made any public conclusions about her claims.

In a press release this week, she claimed that the Justice Department set up the 800 number to take calls about election fraud in response to her allegations, but a Justice Department spokesman explained to The Journal News that the hotline has previously been available for anyone in the U.S. to call about voting irregularities.

Another interesting item in her release was a reference to Jose Alvarado supporter Wilson Soto, who Annabi claims broke the law by voting in Alvarado’s district.

Soto says he lives in the district but has owned property outside the district.

Alvarado’s campaign disclosure form from July 2009 indicates that Soto made an in-kind contribution of $1,000 and the listed address is well outside the 17th district. Soto said that the home belongs to his fiancee.

Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, D-2nd District, met with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office’s public integrity unit on Tuesday.

She presented her list of irregularities that she claims constitute voter fraud in the Democratic primary for Westchester County’s 17th legislative district. I’ve attached a copy of her complaint below.

Annabi lost the primary by five votes to four-term incumbent Jose Alvarado, who released his own statement about Annabi’s allegations on Wednesday.

For the record, Alvarado misrepresents some of Annabi’s positions on the city budget, capital budgets for the schools and a land disposition agreement (LDC) for downtown redevelopment. Annabi voted against the LDC because she said it was a bad deal for city taxpayers; she voted against the city budget because of cuts to police; and the City Council has not yet voted on the capital improvement bonding for the schools.

Here is the text from both statements. Annabi’s is VERY long:

Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, D-2nd District, will hold a press conference outside the White Plains Supreme Court at 9:30 on Oct. 20 to discuss what she describes as evidence regarding 20 instances of voter fraud that she intends to present to the Westchester District Attorney’s office.

Annabi lost the Democratic primary in the 17th county legislative district  in Yonkers  last month by five votes to incumbent county Legislator Jose Alvarado.

Despite her allegations of fraud, the Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Reginald LaFayette said she has not brought any such evidence to the Board of Elections.

“It must be something just to gather publicity,” LaFayette said this morning. “How do you know in detail about these frauds that you never brought to the Board of Elections?”

Here is Annabi’s e-mail from yesterday: (more…)

Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi said today that she’ll ask the federal government to launch a voter-fraud investigation of her five-vote defeat by incumbent County Legislator Jose Alvarado in last month’s Democratic primary.

Annabi lost that race by five votes and today she e-mailed a copy of an affidavit ballot filed by Alvarado’s attorney Wilson Soto which lists his address as 279 S. Broadway. An accompanying party invitation for tonight honoring Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor lists Soto’s home address as 8 Huron Rd. in Yonkers, far outside Alvarado’s district.

“This is an election that was not won fair and square,” said Annabi, adding that she has evidence of irregularities with other ballots that would make her the winner.

Soto, who held Annabi’s seat before she won it, could not be reached at his law firm, which is next to his alleged South Broadway residence.

Alvarado could also not be reached for comment.