DUTCHESS COUNTY, New York — “I’m sorry sir, but you already voted.”
“No I didn’t,” 55-year-old Mike Miner told a Wappingers Falls election worker on Sunday — yet that’s not what election records showed.
Miner told The Federalist that he decided to vote early, just one day after early voting began on Saturday.
“I went up to the table and was told I already voted,” Miner said. “I ask, ‘Where did I vote?’ Because, of course, this is very surprising to me. And they told me I voted in the town of Fishkill [which is located next to Wappingers], 22 minutes after early voting began on Saturday.”
Miner was given an affidavit ballot, which is a provisional ballot that is secured inside an affidavit envelope. A bipartisan team at the Dutchess County Board of Elections investigated the situation and determined that since the signature provided Saturday did not match Miner’s actual signature, Miner’s affidavit ballot will count — but so will the fraudulent vote cast Saturday in Miner’s name. That’s because once a ballot is cast, the vote itself becomes anonymous, making it impossible to identify the fraudulent vote and remove it from the bunch.
“This election is so important to me, and for somebody to vote in my name — I feel so violated,” Miner said.
Erik Haight, the Republican election commissioner on the Dutchess County Board of Elections, told The Federalist that he takes the incident extremely seriously and will be working with local law
