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Lawsuit Challenging Uncounted Votes Reveals “Bloc” Voting Statistics Favoring Donald Trump
ANALYSIS
Litigation in Rockland County Supreme Court is not going to invalidate or overturn the 2024 Senate or Presidential election. It is not going to force a special election, and it is not going to result in a court-appointed election monitor. At best, and only because the County Board of Elections did not seek an outright dismissal of the complaint, the Court may order a recount of voting for the Senate and Presidential elections in Rockland County.
Much hype in the media, both locally and internationally, has surrounded this litigation but it will not change the outcome of the election. At best, it will either uncover irregularities at the Rockland County Board of Elections, or show that the so-called anomaly can be explained by the makeup of the “bloc” vote.
The Court, on its own on March 3rd, dismissed the claims to invalidate the 2024 election results, to hold a new special election, and to appoint a monitor. Last week, presiding Justice Rachel Tanguay, ordered that discovery move forward, based on part of the Board of Elections’ Answer to the complaint acknowledging that some discovery may result in an amendment to its answer.
The petition, filed back in December of 2024, was by three individuals (one of whom ran for Senate on the La Rouche party line, the other two were Rockland County voters) and SMART Legislation (which bills itself as a government organization advocating for the rights of all U.S. voters). It sought a recount of votes, and asked the Court to invalidate the 2024 Senate and Presidential election in Rockland County, schedule a new Senate and Presidential special election, and assign a court-appointed election monitor.
SMART Legislation’s website makes no claim that it is actually a government organization, despite representations in the Petition. The affidavit of Lulu Friesdat, co-founder of SMART Legislation, describes herself as an election journalist, and that SMART Legislation is an “unincorporated action partner of SMART Elections”. No expert affidavit by a statistician was offered supporting election fraud.
Petitioners’ claims that the vote count was improper were based on affidavits from individuals who said they voted for Senate Candidate Diane Sare, and that their votes did not appear on the final voting tally published by the County Board of Elections. Sare, and other plaintiffs, in affidavits claim Sare received more votes than the Rockland County Board of Elections recorded.
The claims were also based on what petitioners described as statistical anomalies regarding votes cast in the 2024 election – specifically that the votes for President and Senate were not aligned. In other words, there were split-ticket inconsistencies in the voting because votes tallied for Democrat Kristen Gillibrand did not align with votes tallied for Kamala Harris. Plaintiffs claim the lack of consistency – voters voting for a Democrat for Senate and a Republican for President – supported an issue of irregularity.
More specifically, a review of the final voting tallies show about a dozen voting districts in the Town of Ramapo where Kamala Harris received between 1-5% of the vote (including districts where Kamala Harris received zero votes) and Kristin Gillibrand received 30-70% of the vote. Petitioners claim this sort of disparity in splitting the ticket is evidence supporting a hand recount.
One example is in Ramapo District 35 (which encompasses Rockland’s Hasidic community): Donald Trump received 552 votes compared to zero votes for Kamala Harris. In the same District, Democrat Kristen Gillibrand received 327 votes to Republican Sapraicone’s 84 votes. Other Districts, including Ramapo’s 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30 and 33 and 36th voting districts, had similar voting patterns.
While Petitioners cited this as evidence of irregularity, Rocklanders have long been aware of uniformity of what is called the “bloc” vote to turn out overwhelming support for a favored candidate, regardless of party affiliation. This voting pattern was consistent among several Ramapo districts, where Kamala Harris scored single digit votes while Gillibrand won her Senate race with a substantial majority. The anomalies petitioners have cited are likely explained by “bloc” voting patterns.
In March, the individual named petitioners voluntarily dismissed their claims, but still asserted there were irregularities in the voting. Only SMART Legislation remains in the case.
The County Board of Elections did not seek dismissal of the case, but decided instead to answer the complaint denying the allegation, asserting that the threshold for a recount was not met, while tacitly acknowledging that some discovery may be warranted.
