In an emerging scandal, the New York City Board of Elections has revealed that at least two dead voters had absentee ballots submitted in their names in the city’s recent primary election, leading to a flurry of calls for a formal investigation into voter integrity in the nation’s biggest city.
For background, on July 22, 2025, the New York Post reported that the New York City Board of Elections had provided documents that confirmed that two deceased individuals, Juliet Windvan and Antoinette Garzaniti, voted in New York’s District 47 primary between Brooklyn Republicans Richie Baramaian and George Sarantopoulous.
In response to the documents obtained by the Post, election lawyer Martin Connor weighed in, saying, “These apparent facts really call for a district attorney investigation.” Connor added, “They need to find out how someone other than the voter was able to obtain and submit the absentee ballots.”
Moreover, Linda Smith, daughter of deceased “voter” Anotoinette Garzaniti, was shaken up by the presence of a ballot bearing her late mother’s name, confirming that she had passed away and telling the New York Post, “That is amazing. I find this unbelievable.” She clarified, “Yes, we still got ballots for her. They were ripped up and thrown out. So I want to know, who is doing it?”
In addition, the Post reported that another voter, an 87-year-old named William Allen, received a “cure notice,” a call for his ballot to be amended, in the mail despite not voting in the primary. In response, Allen’s son, Justin, said that he and his dad tore up the absentee ballot that they received in the mail, confirming that William never voted. Justin told the Post, “I think it’s terrible that somebody cast a ballot in my father’s name, especially in an election that was so close, and that whoever committed fraud, would have been a fraud getting elected.”
Furthermore, John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, a watchdog organization, said that voter fraud is “hard to get away with, and very easy to detect if done in a big enough way to affect an election.” However, Kaehny clarified, “That doesn’t stop various knuckleheads from trying.”
Importantly, the New York Post previously reported that a lawsuit was filed against Mount Vernon, New York, election officials after it was revealed that the Democrat-saturated city’s voter rolls included dead residents. Weighing in on the lawsuit, City Council candidate Bill Schwartz told the Post, “When the voter rolls are that sloppy and no one at the Board of Elections is answering questions, you start to wonder what else is slipping through the cracks — or being pushed through them.”
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Moreover, the Post reported that Mount Vernon has allegedly added more than 10,000 new voter IDs to its rolls in just 13 months, a number that represents a 25% increase in the city’s small population. Regarding the apparent fraud, Schwartz said, “This isn’t just about party politics. It’s about fairness. If we want people to have faith in our elections, then the rules need to apply to everyone, no matter how connected they are.”
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