Editing Kiryas Joel, New York (section)

====Electoral fraud allegations====
On four occasions since 1990, the [[Middletown, Orange County, New York|Middletown]] ''[[Times-Herald Record]]'' has run lengthy [[investigative journalism|investigative]] articles on claims of [[electoral fraud]] in the village. A 1996 article found that Kiryas Joel residents who were students at yeshivas in Brooklyn had on many occasions apparently registered and voted in both the village and in Brooklyn;<ref name="Jweek 1996 fraud story">{{cite news|last=Greenberg|first=Eric|title=New York state investigates voter fraud among Satmar|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/4216/new-york-state-investigates-voter-fraud-among-satmar/|newspaper=[[The Jewish Week|6=New York Jewish Week]]|date=October 4, 1996|access-date=November 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206044740/http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/4216/new-york-state-investigates-voter-fraud-among-satmar/|archive-date=December 6, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> a year later, the paper reported that it had happened again. In 2001, [[absentee ballot]]s were apparently cast by voters who did not normally reside in the village. In some cases, ballots were cast by people who seemed to reside in [[Antwerp]], Belgium, without a set date of expected return, and, thus, would not be allowed under New York law to vote in any election for state or local office. That article led to a county [[grand jury]] investigation in 2001, which concluded that while procedures were not followed, and many mistakes were made, there was no evidence of deliberate intent to violate the law.<ref name="THR 2014 article">{{cite news|last=McKenna|first=Chris|title=Inside the Kiryas Joel voting machine|url=http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141118/NEWS/141119333/101129/SEARCH|newspaper=[[Times-Herald Record]]|date=October 26, 2014|access-date=November 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206172423/http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141118/NEWS/141119333/101129/SEARCH|archive-date=December 6, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

Before the 2013 [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Partisan primary|primary]] in that year's [[special election]] for the [[New York State Assembly|state assembly]] seat vacated by [[Annie Rabbitt]], later elected [[county clerk]], members of United Monroe, a local group that organizes and co-ordinates political opposition to the village and those local officials it believes support it, asked the county's [[Board of Elections]] to assign them to Kiryas Joel as [[election inspector]]s, who verify that voters are registered before allowing them to vote. The board's [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] commissioner, Sue Bahrens, initially agreed to appoint six to serve in the village, but later reversed that decision. The six sued the county, alleging [[religious discrimination]]; it{{who|date=December 2024}} responded that they had no [[standing (law)|standing]] to sue. Village Manager Gedalye Szegedin said the citizens were entitled to have inspectors who spoke Yiddish and understood their culture and customs. A [[New York Supreme Court|state court]] justice dismissed the discrimination claim, but ruled that the United Monroe inspectors had been dismissed [[Standard of review#Arbitrary and capricious|arbitrarily and capriciously]], and were entitled to their appointments, but did not say when or where.<ref name="THR 2014 article" />

In 2014, the newspaper examined claims by [[poll watcher]]s from United Monroe that they were intimidated and harassed by other poll watchers sympathetic to the village government when they tried to challenge voters whose signatures did not initially appear to match those on file during the previous year's elections for county offices. They further alleged that election inspectors in the polling place, a banquet hall where 6,000 residents voted, sometimes gave the voters ballots before the signatures could be checked.<ref name="THR 2014 article" />

Some of the United Monroe poll watchers claimed that Langdon Chapman, an attorney for the Monroe town board, which they believe is controlled by members deferential to Kiryas Joel and its interests, was one of those who intimidated them. Coleman told the ''Record'' that while he had been at the banquet hall in question, he had only insisted that poll watchers state the reason for their challenges, as legally required, and had left after two hours. He was subsequently appointed [[county attorney]] (the lawyer who represents the county in civil matters) by new [[county executive]] Steve Neuhaus, whose margin of victory included all but 20 of the votes from the village.<ref name="THR 2014 article" />

After the election, United Monroe members found more than 800 voters in Kiryas Joel whose signatures did not match those on file, in addition to 25 they had challenged at the polls, three of whom were later investigated by the county [[Sheriffs in the United States#New York|sheriff]]; the rest were considered unfounded. Orange County [[District Attorney]] David Hoovler, elected along with Neuhaus, told the newspaper it was difficult to investigate the allegations, since they could not verify the identity of either signer, if, in fact, there were two. The ''Record'' attempted to contact some of those voters; the only one they reached hung up when asked about the election.<ref name="THR 2014 article" />