Americans casting their votes. [Reuters]
Americans casting their votes. [Reuters]

New York state's education department has ordered a new election in a Long Island community after an investigation found that an election official manipulated the vote by tearing up and discarding ballots.

According to the New York Post, New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa on Thursday invalidated the results of the May 19 school board election in Hempstead and directed that a new election be held within 60 days.

The order came immediately after an internal investigation confirmed that an election official had torn ballots and removed them from the office to help former school board Chair Victor Pratt win reelection.

According to American outlet RedState, a 51-page petition submitted to the state education department by the school's legal team alleged that the election official smuggled ballots out of the office and handed mail-in absentee ballots to Pratt to be destroyed.

"This election must be invalidated. Widespread illegal conduct affected the outcome of the election, and the extent of that conduct was serious enough to undermine the entire electoral process," the petition stated.

According to local broadcaster News 12 Long Island, the Hempstead school board held an emergency meeting on May 22, shortly after the scandal broke, and placed the election official on paid administrative leave.

Pratt denied the charges at the time, saying that while other board members claimed ballots had been destroyed, "in practice nothing was destroyed."

The state education department appointed a district superintendent to oversee the new election. A date for the new vote has not yet been set. Local prosecutors have also received the results of the school's internal investigation and launched a separate probe.

Pratt, also known locally as DJ Vic-Lover, had won reelection in the May vote by a narrow margin.


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