AG Reviews Saddle Rock Election After Voter Roll Tampering

A first-time voter showing up to cast his ballot shouldn’t have to fight to get his name on the list. But that’s exactly what happened to 18-year-old Lanu Vanolphen when he arrived at the polls for the Saddle Rock village election on March 18.

His name had been crossed out.

Vanolphen was eventually allowed to vote after signing an affidavit confirming his residence, but his experience wasn’t an isolated one. Multiple Saddle Rock residents reported finding their names marked through on the voter roll, forcing them to take the extra step before casting a ballot. Now the state Attorney General’s office is looking into what happened.

The review stems from an admission by outgoing Mayor Dan Levy, who acknowledged crossing out names on the official voter roll before the election. Levy said he used a red marker to strike names of people he believed were deceased or had moved away from the village. He said he was not trying to benefit any political group.

New York State law has a clear answer to that kind of initiative: it’s not allowed. Nassau County Board of Elections Chief Clerk Donna Nogid said state law prohibits altering the poll book in any way. After receiving complaints about the marked-up roll, county elections officials delivered a clean, unaltered replacement.

Whether the original roll was used anyway, or for how long, is part of what the Attorney General’s office is now sorting through. A spokesperson said the office has not received any formal complaints but is reviewing the situation informally.

Resident Eyal Shachi told officials that his daughter’s name had also been marked, and that she was required to sign an affidavit before voting. He said the experience left her feeling uncomfortable. A poll worker, who asked not to be named, said the number of crossed-out names was noticeably high compared to past elections.

Levy, who has served as mayor since 2011, said he welcomes the review and maintains he did nothing improper.

The election itself arrived with unusual complications already in place. Levy and three other incumbents on his slate had been disqualified from appearing on the ballot after the Board of Elections found that six of the slate’s eight pages of petition signatures were missing a required witness signature. Following that disqualification, Levy announced he would not seek reelection. He cited the tension that had taken hold in the community as a factor in that decision.

“The village used to be a happy, peaceful place,” Levy said. “The dichotomy that was created was artificial.”

Despite the ballot disqualification, two incumbents, Trustee Hal Chadow and Village Justice Julia Gavriel, won their seats through write-in votes. Kambiz Akhavan won the mayor’s race, defeating Trustee Robert Kraus.

Kraus, who lost the mayoral contest, said the voter roll situation raises legitimate concerns about how the election was conducted and deserves a thorough review.

The Saddle Rock village clerk declined to comment.

Saddle Rock is a small incorporated village in Great Neck with a few hundred residents. Village elections don’t usually generate much attention beyond the people who live there. This one is different. The combination of a disqualified ballot slate, altered voter records, and first-time voters turned away at the door has put a spotlight on a community that, by Levy’s own description, used to run quietly.

What happens next depends in part on what the Attorney General’s review turns up. Affidavit ballots cast by voters whose names were crossed out will likely factor into any assessment of whether the alterations affected the outcome. Efforts to reach Levy for additional comment were unsuccessful.

For Vanolphen, the whole experience was a rough introduction to civic participation. He got to vote in the end, but having to prove his own eligibility to cast a first ballot isn’t the welcome that most people hope for. Whether the review brings any formal action or simply closes without findings, the questions raised about process and fairness in Saddle Rock aren’t going away quickly.