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A New York school district has been ordered to redo an election after a clerk was allegedly caught tearing up ballots to rig the results in favor of the incumbent.
District Clerk April Keys allegedly tore up ballots and helped smuggle them out of her office to help board president Victor Pratt win his reelection campaign for the Hempstead Union Free School District on Long Island.
Keys was allegedly caught on surveillance throwing the ripped-up ballots into the dumpster. She also allegedly gave Pratt, a local DJ, absentee ballots to get rid of, a district petition filed to the Education Department said, according to the New York Post.
Pratt won the election by a narrow margin with just 81 more votes. However, he led in absentee ballots with 87 percent and only came in third on machine voting results, with 27 percent, The Post said.
Three days after the election, Keys was placed on administrative leave. The same day, District Superintendent Gary Rush found a garbage bag filled with stolen, ripped up ballots, the petition said.
The bag was later discarded by the custodian while the locks were being changed on Keys' door. He later led investigators to it, where it was standing in a foot of water, the petition said.
Inside the bag, there were ballots for both Pratt and his main competitor, Gwendolyn Jackson.
Jackson's campaign coordinator also said in the petition that he dropped off 120 filled in early mail ballots to Keys' office, but only 79 were counted.
District Clerk April Keys allegedly tore up ballots and helped smuggle them out of her office to make Victor Pratt win
Pratt was also seen carrying ballots out of the office, which he denied remembering doing, a petition said
Investigators also accused the custodian of being prepped by Keys to get rid of the ballots, as surveillance footage caught him leaving her office with a bag of visible ballots, the petition said.
'Ms. Keys told him to use a different staircase because the security aide stationed at the bottom of the staircase by the administrative offices would ask questions and it ‘risked appearing suspicious,' it said.
Pratt was also caught on surveillance footage allegedly carrying 125 absentee ballots, which he denied remembering doing in the petition.
Investigators also said they allegedly found some ballots written in the same handwriting and accused the pair of forgery.
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office is now investigating the election, while the district gears up to host another for the position, The Post reported.
Keys could face criminal charges.
A new date for the election has not been set, but State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa ordered the election must take place within 60 days.
'The Board appreciates the Commissioner’s expeditious review of this matter, which enables the District to move forward with the revote in accordance with the Commissioner’s ruling,' the district told The Post.
District officials found ripped up ballots in a garbage bag in the dumpster
Ballots for both Pratt and his main competitor was found
The district has also accused the custodian on being in cahoots with Keys to get rid of ballots
Neil Boyd has also been appointed as the temporary clerk to oversee the election. Boyd is the current superintendent for Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES.
The district launched an internal investigation after it discovered irregularities in the trustee election.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the district, Pratt, and Keys for comment.
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