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Erie County District Attorney's Office investigates pre-stamped ballots

The election inspectors were dismissed and replaced
Posted at 4:08 PM, Nov 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-04 16:08:31-04

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Erie County District Attorney's Office is investigating after allegations were raised that poll workers pre-stamped ballots in the Buffalo mayoral race.

Prior to the election, Mayor Byron Brown’s campaign purchased thousands of stamps with his name to be used on ballots by supporters.

The distribution and use of stamps by voters is legal, but an incident at one polling location raised concerns.

The district attorney’s office says it was contacted after inspectors may have “misused” a stamp at a location.

Erie County Election Commissioners Ralph Mohr and Jeremy Zellner issued a joint statement saying, “as soon as we were made aware of the alleged incident, the inspectors in question were dismissed and replaced.”

The commissioners then alerted the DA’s office - who confirmed Wednesday that they are investigating the incident.

In a tweet, Democratic mayoral candidate India Walton said every dirty trick in the book was tried against her campaign.

She specifically references, “Republican poll inspectors pre-stamping ballots.”

Jesse Myerson, spokesperson for the Walton campaign, said they won’t comment further because of the ongoing investigation.

Mayor Brown’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.