Bethel, NY – Sullivan County Legislator Dave Sager and a group he founded formally challenged on Thursday 150 voter registrations of primarily Hasidic seasonal residents in the Town of Bethel.
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Sager said he and the Voters for Election Integrity do not believe the newly registered voters meet the residency criteria of election law.
Sager held a news conference in the Government Center lobby, then submitted a file on each new registered voter to the county Board of Elections.
These profiles include information on each new registered voter and photographs of boarded-up bungalow colonies. He said that most of the new voters live in Brooklyn and come for a few weeks in the summer.
Sager founded VEI after a surge of registrations this summer that came after the Town of Bethel and the United Talmudical Academy went to court over a hastily constructed shul on Schultz Road.
While attempts to reach one of the leaders of the registration drive failed, one property owner was angered by the challenge.
“This is an issue of all Hasidim in Bethel feeling that they are being hampered and discriminated by some elected officials,” said Moshe Goldberger, a Brooklyn tax consultant who recently registered in Bethel.
“The unfortunate debacle with the shul on Schultz Road just served as the straw that broke the camel’s back, where we are convinced that, had it been any other group that built such a magnificent, safe structure, the Town of Bethel would have hosted a big grand-opening celebration. But being that the Hasidim built it, they bluntly attempted to stop it at all costs,” said Goldberger.
One of the main arguments Sager and the VEI will use is that the overwhelming majority of these registrations came from bungalow colonies, which are licensed by the Department of Health as seasonal facilities.
Because the state recognizes these as temporary dwellings, Sager said, a colony does not meet the standard of “a fixed, permanent and principal home,” which is what defines a residence in election law.
“When somebody in the Board of Elections gets 15 registrations from the same address out of a bungalow colony, shouldn’t that raise a red flag that it should be questioned?” Sager said.
“We believe we have a great argument. Isn’t it appropriate to have the discussion in the first place? This is the essence of democracy,” he said.
Elections Commissioner Faith Kaplan said she and Commissioner Rodney Gaebel would need time to review the packets.
She said the challenged voters would likely have to submit affidavit ballots.
The commissioners do have the option of asking the sheriff’s office to investigate the addresses.
over and over again, JUST RISHOUS!!
Who supports Sullivan County via taxes and shopping that helps their pockets
Even if it is only in the two months of the summer.
Drive through their towns and villages during the winter.
It is just a ghost town.
bungalow colonies, which are licensed by the Department of Health as seasonal facilities.
they call this seasonal facilities, when these units need concrete foundations, basements and need to be winterized? these units seems to me to be lived in all year round. now they town calls them bungalows! the town has some nerve, but to charge taxes as if they are used all year they have no problem! now we see how the town is getting scared that the jews are comeing in to voteand things will be changed to how we want it let the town and everyone learn that one does not get away so easy when they start up with the yidden!
We have to keep up the fight. Ultimately the only way to power is through voting. if Obama hadnt had ACORN registering mickey mouse he wouldnt be president!
Those who falsify their regisrations with false representations regarding the year-round status of the residence should be prosecuted for falsely swearing to a deliberate misstatement. Those who do have valid year round homes should be allowed to register without any further delay.
Comment #1 said it right. The old way worked fine, but it is them, the local government, who decided to impose taxes and restrictions on the seasonal dwellers. As such, if they pay the locals year-round taxes for things they don’t utilize, they should be eligible to vote and have a say in what happens locally there as well.
simple common sense: if these citizens are good enough to be taxed- they should be good enough to vote.
Am I wrong?
Bethel tea party? “No taxation without representation.”
The problem is that they register as bungalow colonies (legally, and correctly) to avoid paying the taxes that 50 individual homes would have to pay, and then they want them to be considered permanent dwellings. I wonder how these places are taxed?
Bethel tea party? “No taxation without representation.”
The problem is that they register as bungalow colonies (legally, and correctly) to avoid paying the taxes that 50 individual homes would have to pay, and then they want them to be considered permanent dwellings. I wonder how these places are taxed?
The locals might win this battle but they will lose the war. If the kept quiet you might have had 100 voters. Now they will study the judges decision and find ways to conform being considered a resident. Then they will register 1000 voters. You locals are real stupid for reacting this way.
the problem is more complex. Can a person be registered to vote in more than one place? I doubt it, and I am sure that all of these summer dwellers are poitically tied to their Brookyn neighborhoods. If yes, than a person can vote often for presidential or congressional elections, and that is probably illegal.
A few months ago, a “wise” person started posting the idea to register in upstate. As an upstate resident, I warned him that the neighbors will have a very easy time documenting the fact that he didn’t live there. This is not NYC, where most people don’t know what their next-door neighbor is doing. In upstate, the population density is so much smaller, that it’s easy to keep track of people, especially a whole bungalow colony!
Excellent ! We the frum summer residents are fully entitled to vote there ,
Yes! most of us live there only ten or twelve weeks out of the year ,No different then many non orthodox “Floridians” or “Snowbirds” Who always Vote religiously -and insist that many elections in Sullivan County take place in JUNE!!
Right BEFORE the ‘frum’ people come up!!
THOSE PEOPLE’s VOTES’ ARE NEVER CHALLENGED!! WHY???
We pay the majority of the school tax by far! , though we don’t even Use the Schools!! We have not voted in the past and suffered the results ..Time to CHANGE that.
Remember you don’t have to own anything to vote , residing and Renting is fine!
of course whoever will decide to vote in Sullivan will not vote elsewhere We know that you cannot be registered in two places at once ,
We Must Stop The Organized harassment of the peaceful orthodox Hasidim
So WE MUST VOTE VOTE VOTE !!!!!!!! and put in sane Fair and decent people
That have our interests in mind.
“Dont be Intimidated” clearly doesn’t let the truth stand in the way of his allegations. Error 1: You do NOT pay the majority of the taxes in the area, these properties are taxed at a far reduced rate, if they are taxed at all…
Error 2: The are very few, if ANY, local elections held in June for the snowbirds to take part in
Error 3: Both candidates in the Bethel Supervisors race had the SAME position on this zoning issue (recently resolved I might add), so there was NO safe haven for your vote.
Also, please note that as a renter, you are not taxed at all. The purpose of this action is to make sure that only those who have an established and lasting commitment to the community vote, with NO prejuice towards race or faith. If that is you, welcome to the community, and please feel free to vote! If that is not, stop causing problems and follow the same rules that the rest of us do for the brief time you’re here!