CEASE AND DESIST A portion of the letter sent by NY State Attorney General Letitia James to Marly Hornik, director of New York Citizens Audit, a group claiming that state voter roles are full of “cloned” registrations created in part by a “secret algorithm.” James cited NYCA volunteers for allegedly harassing voters while impersonating board of election officials. Hornik denied the accusation, but later admitted that the group does visit locations where they suspect registrations are fraudulent. Provided photo
NY group alleges election fraud
But state calls claims ‘disinformation’
By Mio Moser | Manor Ink
Livingston Manor, NY – At the Town of Rockland’s Oct. 19 board meeting, a group known as New York Citizens Audit or NYCA presented a rather alarming set of data, which appeared to suggest that massive election fraud took place in New York State elections in 2020 and 2022.
NYCA is a nonprofit organization with a goal of conducting an open-source audit of the 2022 New York State election. “We are interested in transparent, honest, valid elections,” asserted Kim Hermance, co-founder and member of the NYCA board of directors. Hermance explained to Manor Ink that the group was founded in 2020 in the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential election. “We got together because of all the contentiousness of the elections across the country,” Hermance said.
NYCA’s statewide activities
The group, which consists of all volunteers, has been recently presenting their case to town boards across the entire state. They have also presented to the Sullivan County Legislature. Their main goal is to collect resolutions adopted by town boards and legislatures in support of a state-wide election audit. They customize resolutions so that each town board member either signs or leaves a blank line next to his or her name. The resolutions, along with individual petitions, demand an audit of the 2022 general election. The petition for ordinary citizens can be found on their website and also includes a statement suggesting individuals may choose to withhold state taxes if the petition is not redressed.
Among NYCA’s activities is recruitment of volunteers for its county canvassing teams, which their website describes as an effort to “Confirm voter information with voters in your area.”
Voter intimidation
“These allegations, if true, could constitute unlawful voter deception under New York state law and unlawful voter intimidation under both state and federal law.”
On Sept. 21, the New York Attorney General’s Office issued NYCA a notification and document request letter directing it to cease and desist its door-to-door canvassing of voters. The letter begins, “The New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has reviewed reports alleging that volunteers from the NY Citizens Audit Civic Fund have confronted voters across the state at their homes, falsely claimed to be Board of Elections officials, and falsely accused voters of committing felony voter fraud. These allegations, if true, could constitute unlawful voter deception under New York state law and unlawful voter intimidation under both state and federal law.”
In response, NYCA reached out to press outlets, among them Manor Ink, on Sept. 18, to offer its side of the story. Among their catalog of claims is that in New York, “5 million questionable registrations voted 750,000 times in 2022.” NYCA’s full report is on their website, which also presents a breakdown of presumed irregularities by county. They have not yet analyzed Sullivan County.
The New York State Board of Elections shared with Manor Ink its point-by-point explanation of the so-called “irregularities” claimed by NYCA. OAG communications with county board of election officials indicates that it is important to dispel the “misinformation and disinformation” that NYCA or anyone promotes.