{"id":2944,"date":"2026-06-25T17:11:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2944"},"modified":"2026-06-25T17:11:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:11:18","slug":"long-island-school-clerk-caught-tearing-up-ballots-trashing-votes-to-help-her-candidate-win-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2944","title":{"rendered":"Long Island school clerk caught tearing up ballots, trashing votes to help her candidate win: probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Long Island school clerk overseeing board of education elections tore up ballots and threw them in a dumpster to help her favorite candidate win, a newly revealed internal probe found.<\/p>\n

Read more Mamdani rent freeze scheme ripped as \u2018theater\u2019 by landlord rep \u2014 as she resigns in protest hours before vote<\/a><\/p>\n

Hempstead Union Free School District Clerk April Keys allegedly rigged the May 19 trustee election by smuggling official ballots out of her office and handing absentee ballots to favored candidate Victor Pratt so he could trash them, according to a 51-page petition filed by the district with the state Education Department.<\/p>\n

Keys could now face criminal charges as the district is looking to overturn Pratt\u2019s razor-thin win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Board of Education Trustee election must be overturned because widespread irregularities affected the outcome of the election and were so pervasive that they vitiated the electoral process,\u201d the filing, from the Hempstead school district\u2019s attorneys, said.<\/p>\n

The filing, which was submitted June 15 but emerged Thursday,\u00a0 asks state Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa to order a new one election, with a replacement clerk and oversight by the state Attorney General\u2019s Civil Rights office.<\/p>\n

Read more Hornets trade LaMelo Ball to Timberwolves in stunning NBA deal<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Question marks were first raised by the district after it discovered major irregularities in its election.<\/p>\n

Pratt won by just 81 votes \u2014 boosted by a suspiciously large number of absentee and early mail ballots that boosted him to the win even though he only came in third on machine voting, the probe found.<\/p>\n

Pratt racked up 87% of absentee votes and 55% of early mail votes, compared to just 27% of in-person machine votes \u2013 while other trustee candidates received fewer than 100 absentee and early mail ballots combined, the probe found.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii law requiring permission to carry guns in stores and hotels<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hempstead Union Free School District Clerk April Keys allegedly rigged the May 19 trustee election by smuggling official ballots out of her office and handing absentee ballots to favored candidate Victor Pratt so he could trash them, according to a 51-page petition filed by the district with the state Education Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-long-island"],"yoast_head":"\nLong Island school clerk caught tearing up ballots, trashing votes to help her candidate win: probe - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2944\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Long Island school clerk caught tearing up ballots, trashing votes to help her candidate win: probe - 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