Ballot fraud case not likely prosecuted

An Erie County Board of Elections Clerk considered the major person of interest in a case of ballot tampering may never be prosecuted by the Sheriff's Office or Erie County District Attorney. News 4 Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg has learned the Erie County Board of Elections clerk may lose his job, but that there may be insufficient evidence to prove he filled-in as many as fifteen absentee ballots with Chris Collins' name on them.

The clerk, a democrat, who has contributed thousands of dollars to campaigns within his party during the last four years, is believed to have pre-marked the ballots before they were sent to homes in Lackawanna and Buffalo's Fillmore District. The motive is unclear, according to sources close to the investigation. Sources in the Sheriff's Office have said the clerk is not believed to have been working on behalf of either the Collins or Mark Poloncarz campaign. The actions may have been self-motivated, according to sources.

New York State law allows the Board of Elections to require its employees to answer truthfully if they violate any aspect of the law while carrying out their duties. If the person refuses to answer, his job is terminated. The clerk in question has refused to sign a statement and has retained attorneys to represent his case. He is likely to be terminated if he continues to avoid an answer. However, even if he confessed to tampering with ballots, his confession could not be used by prosecutors, because it would be considered a compelled confession, or self-incrimination.

The criminal investigation is believed to be winding down, but the Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the case, may not have enough evidence to charge the clerk. An unopened absentee ballot that had been returned to the Board of Elections is being analyzed for fingerprints. However, sources close to the investigation are now saying that even if the clerk's fingerprints are found to be on the ballot, it would only show that he handled document, not that he necessarily tampered with it.

The Sheriff's Office initially said "an arrest will be imminent" once the evidence is professionally analyzed." The thought now by legal analysts, is that there might be insufficient evidence to prove beyond a doubt that prime person of interest inked the ballots for Collins.

The ballot tampering case has now received national attention.

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday morning, Erie County Executive Chris Collins accused Mark Poloncarz, and the State Democratic Party of orchestrating the ballot-tampering. "What we've seen in the last week, leading up to the election", said Collins, "is a disturbing trend of dirty tricks and outright elections fraud."

Poloncarz's campaign fired back, calling Collins' interview on Fox News "shrill, finger-pointing accusations at its worst."

"Mr. Collins is trying to politicize this," said Poloncarz, "taking it to the extreme of going on national news, because truthfully, his campaign is floundering."

It has been eleven days since the absentee ballots were discovered. Most were in Lackawanna - Poloncarz's hometown. Poloncarz had initially posted a comment on Facebook accusing the Collins campaign of dirty tricks. "They will do anything including rigging ballots to win this election," said Poloncarz. Poloncarz later tempered his comments saying "whether it was a Democrat or Republican, it needs to stop. I support the Sheriff's investigation, and if someone is found that they have done this then they should be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Now, ironically, the chief person of interest may never be prosecuted, but may simply lose his job. Sources say any action by the Elections Commissioners against the clerk are likely to follow the formal end of the criminal investigation.

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