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MAYVILLE, NY (WNY News Now) – Over the weekend, a group in Chautauqua County went door-to-door claiming to verify voter information. Now, New York State’s Attorney General is looking into the matter.
Chautauqua County’s Board of Election Commissioners tell WNY News Now that the group, branded as “Chautauqua County Voter Integrity” volunteers, were not specifically posing as election officials, however tried to verify resident’s voting status.
ID is not required to vote in New York State. Instead, electorates provide proof of identity via a signature comparison at the polling site.
Since the claims were made, the state’s Attorney General has launched an investigation to determine if voter privacy laws were violated.
The Election Commissioner says the AG’s Office will investigate if this group is harassing or questioning residents in a way that could inhibit voting.
“If anybody is coming to your door or doing any kind of updates, or research, or whatever they are doing, it’s not us, Board of Elections, myself and Luz, our employees, we’re running elections, we’re not in the field evaluating anything, we’re doing work to provide voting services,” explained Chautauqua County Board of Elections Commissioners Brian Abram.
This news comes as residents take to the polls for early voting, which kicked off on Saturday at several locations across the county. So far, over 1,700 people have come out to cast their ballot, with the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds polling site the most popular.
A list of early voting hours and locations are posted online at VoteChautauqua.com.
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