40 A.D.2d 604 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1972
Judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County, dated September 1, 1972, reversed on the law, without costs, and a new primary election for the nominations involved is directed to be held on September 19, 1972. No questions of fact have been considered. In our opinion, the evidence presented at Special Term, much of it uncontradicted, establishes that this primary election was “ characterized by such * * * irregularities as to render impossible a determination as to who rightfully was nominated” (Election Law, § 330, subd. 2). While we find no evidence of fraud per se, we think this was one of those -rare elections “ conducted so badly that even though illegality of specific votes cannot be attributed to the misconduct, still it must be found that the resultant mischief held such potential for changing the result that every dictate of fairness and protection of the voters’ franchise demands a new election.” (Matter of DeSapio v. Koch, 21 A D 2d 20, 22, revd. on other grounds 14 N Y 2d 735.) A number of disinterested witnesses testified without contradiction that hundreds of voters were turned away from the pojling places to which they had been directed by the Board of Elections because their buff cards could not be found. There was undisputed evidence that election inspectors ignored challenges made by petitioners’ poll watchers, refused to question challenged voters under oath as to their qualifications, and kept no record of challenges made. In some of the polling places, there was active campaigning for respondent Roonjey by election inspectors and others. Many of the statutory safeguards enacted to insure the integrity of the election were totally or substantially ignored by election officials. It was conceded that no attempt was made to execute the notification procedure established by section 405 of the Election Law to cancel the permanent personal registration of voters who had not voted in a general
