A suburban New York city council member was charged with submitting fraudulently signed election petitions that included three people who died, prosecutors and a report said.
Rob Scott, 44, a Democrat who serves on the Peekskill City Council, has a petition signed by Rockland/Westchester people who died in 2012, 2017 and 2022 to run for county council in 2023. It is said that it was submitted. Journal News reported.
Eight other people named in the 37-page petition told prosecutors they never signed it.
These and 537 other signatures from the deceased were included in the petition in which Mr. Scott is said to have attested to his own sightings.
He was arrested April 16 and charged with first-degree furnishing a false instrument, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy,” Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Roca said in a statement, undermining the petition process in an effort to get on the ballot undermines public trust. He said it would happen.
Scott’s petition, which sought to have him included on the ballot to challenge County Councilman Colin Smith, was rejected by the Westchester Board of Elections for insufficient signatures.
According to the report, two people whose names appeared on the petition alerted authorities, which sparked an investigation into the other names on the petition.
Scott, the owner of a local juice bar, denies forging the signatures and claims he cross-referenced each name with county records.
He is scheduled to be arraigned April 30 in White Plains Municipal Court.
