There are reports of individuals reportedly visiting households, saying they are with a “Chautauqua County Voter Integrity” organization. Officials want residents to know that they are not county employees and they are not authorized through the county or the board of elections.

“We were made aware of the situation on Saturday and we turned it over to the Attorney General’s Office and to the Sheriff’s Department,” explained county Republican Election Commissioner Brian Abram.

Abram said both he and county Democratic Election Commissioner Luz Torres spoke to a household in Busti that said they were approached by people who said they were volunteers with the county Voter Integrity group and produced a badge. “They have nothing to do with the Chautauqua County Board of Elections. They have nothing to do with us as far as how the process works here in New York state,” he said.

Abram said he does not know who these “Integrity” members are nor does he know of any outside organization that has an established “voter integrity” committee. Both he and Luz said the county Democratic and Republican parties do not have such a committee.

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Election

“I never heard of them until Saturday. I never knew they existed. I don’t know if it really is a group or it is some individuals who are just calling themselves something. It’s hard to say at this point,” Abram said. “Both me and Luz, have never heard of a group doing this. It’s not us. It’s not part of the process for voting so we’re just trying to make people aware that this isn’t how we operate.”

Torres said she first learned about the situation from the county Democratic Committee. “I ended up calling them and assuring them it’s not us,” she said.

Abram said the group members apparently asked this household, which had two registered voters, to confirm where they lived in the past and where they are registered to vote today.

After hearing about the incident, the Board of Elections posted a notice on their website. The full notice reads as follows:

“Any individuals claiming to verify voting information for the November 8, 2022 General Election are not in any way related to or employed by the Chautauqua County Board of Elections. There is reports of a ‘voter integrity’ group going door to door and these individuals are not part of regular Election Activities.

“All voters who are registered by October 14, as Election Law specifies, are eligible to vote in the November 8, 2022 General Election. ID is NOT required in New York State and proof of identity is your signature comparison at the poll site. If you have moved and not notified the Board of Elections, please go to your NEW poll site, where you will be required to vote via Provisional Affidavit Ballot.

“The Chautauqua County Sheriff Office has been made aware of this situation.”

The notice was also placed on the county Board of Elections Facebook page and County Executive PJ Wendel’s weekly “Monday Memo” email.

Both Abram and Torres declined to speculate as to the group’s intentions for asking such questions or if they believe any laws have been broken.

Marcia Westling Johnson is the county Democratic Chairperson. She believes this “voter integrity” group was intentionally targeting registered Democrats.

“We believe that these voters were targeted as registered Democratic voters in an attempt to intimidate them and question their right as citizens to vote in this election. This is one of the consequences resulting from former President Donald Trump’s efforts to falsely claim fraudulent voting in our elections and his attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of the presidency to Joseph Biden. The people who are approaching citizens locally are likely aware of the efforts in Chautauqua County by a group calling themselves NY Citizens Audit. This group and their followers have sought to overturn the results of our 2020 election in New York based on false claims — and likely will make the same arguments regarding our current election. This is poison for our democracy,” she said.

Along with Busti, Westling Johnson said she heard of another incident in Bemus Point.

The Post-Journal/OBSERVER reached out to Attorney General Letita James’ office for a response. Staff member Alexis Richards said they were looking into the issue. She said in general, the following conduct potentially constitutes illegal voter intimidation:

¯ individuals or groups patrolling outside of polling places and trying to scare people out of the voting line;

¯ civilians dressing as law enforcement officers and harassing voters at poll sites;

¯ poll watchers inside a polling place engaging in aggressive behavior or challenging large groups of voters, leading to long lines and creating false fears that people may be illegally voting;

¯ poll watchers standing in the vicinity of privacy booths, standing in unauthorized areas, videotaping and/or photographing voters within the polling place, following or harassing voters in the polling place;

¯ individuals spreading false rumors or making false statements that there are negative consequences to voting; and

¯ individuals or groups displaying weapons or military uniforms or other military paraphernalia outside of polling locations.

The Office of the Attorney General also noted that federal law has determined that voter intimidation includes threatening violence against voters, threatening economic boycotts due to voting, and following voters to poll sites and speaking loudly about prosecuting them for illegal voting. Additionally, publicly disseminating voters’ names and addresses, or “doxing,” to vilify those individuals or conducting patterns of baseless arrests and prosecutions in the vicinity of voter registration meetings are voter intimidation actions.

Messages left with the Sheriff’s Office were not returned Monday.