New York City Board of Elections Executive Director Michael J. Ryan, and the majority of the Board Commissioners knew about the purging of nearly 160,000 residents from the voting rolls as early as July of last year and apparently sat on their hands, Kings County Politics has learned.
According to minutes of the July 7, 2015 meeting, Ryan reported on the Voter Cancellation Process saying, “The total amount of Intent to Cancel (ITC) Letters mailed citywide were 168,197. The total amount of voters cancelled is 157,057. The total amount of National Change of Address (NCOA) Letters that are “Moved Out of the City” are 43,505, and the total amount of “Transfers” are 75,797.
Also according to the minutes Brooklyn BOE Commissioner John Flateau inquired about the high amount of voter cancellations in Brooklyn based on the report. He also requested for cancellation numbers by Assembly District, if possible, for Brooklyn.
According to the minutes, those present at the meeting included: Commissioners Jose Araujo, Ronald Castorina, John Flateau, Maria R. Guastella, Alan Schulkin, Michael Rendino, Simon Shamoun, Frederic M. Umane.
KCP has made an inquiry to the BOE on how the commissioners followed up on this unusually high amount of voters being purged from the rolls, and the results of Flateau’s request for the cancellation numbers in Brooklyn by Assembly District.
This story will be updated when it receives a response.
The revelation that both Ryan and a majority of the commissioners were aware of this mass purging of voters and that Flateau raised a red flag comes as the Board suspended without pay both both chief clerk Diane Haslett-Rudiano, a Republican, and Deputy Clerk at the Brooklyn borough office Betty Ann Canizio, a Democrat.
KCP first reported both that voters were being purged at unusually high numbers and that the Board of Commissioners knew about the purge.
