Mathieu Eugene Illegally Campaigns At Polls, Witnesses Say

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — City Councilman Mathieu Eugene was seen campaigning at polling places across his district — which includes Ditmas Park, Flatbush and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens — on Tuesday in violation of state election law, his opponent's campaign and witnesses said.

Brian Cunningham, a Democrat running on the Reform Party line to unseat the long-time incumbent Eugene, also took to Facebook to charge that "there have been a number of complaints throughout the district about poll workers telling people how to vote in this election."

And voters told Patch that they saw people distributing campaign material very close to at least two polling places in the district. New York's Board of Elections states that electioneering is not allowed within 100 feet of a polling place.

Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause NY, issued a statement condemning Eugene's actions.

"This represents an egregious and ongoing disrespect for our democracy by Council Member Eugene," Lerner said.

"The Board should be less concerned with impartial interpreters helping voters and focus instead on evidence of alleged egregious violations of the ban on electioneering by a council member running for re-election."

Eugene won re-election Tuesday night, according to The New York Times.

Adam Ullian, who works on the Eugene campaign, told Patch that Eugene was at the polls because he had been told that Cunningham was at the polls earlier in the day. Ullian said Eugene wanted to make sure the poll workers and election officers knew that wasn't allowed.

"That was his intent. Not because he wanted to break the campaign rules," Ullian said. "The intent was to let them know that, hey, he’s not supposed to be there."

Candice Fortin, a Cunningham campaign worker, said that both Cunningham and Eugene were standing 100 feet away from P.S. 249 in Ditmas Park speaking with voters before they went to the polls for several hours on Tuesday morning.

But when Cunningham left, that's when she said she saw Eugene go inside and speak with both poll workers and voters.

"Accounts have been documented by voters, poll watchers, volunteers and staff of Eugene's Election Day tour of voter suppression, electioneering, and intimidation at several polling sites throughout the district," Candice Fortin, who works on the Cunningham campaign, wrote in an earlier email.

Gideon Hess, a poll watcher for the Cunningham campaign, was also stationed at P.S. 249. He told Patch that he saw Eugene walk into the school gymnasium, where voting was taking place, and shake hands with five to 10 people inside.

Hess said Eugene told him he was there to vote, but the councilman never picked up a ballot or cast a vote, according to Hess.

"He went into the voting room, the gym, and he shook some hands," Hess told Patch. "He had a conversation with his poll-watcher. And then he left. He didn’t pick up a ballot or do any voting. He was just there to greet people and talk to his staff."

Samara Smith voted at P.S. 92 in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. She said that as she was walking up a ramp to get to the polling place to cast her ballot, there were kids handing out small fliers promoting Eugene.

"There were two kids, I guess age 10, handing out postcards for Mathieu Eugene," Smith told Patch. "And there were a bunch on the ground on the ramp."

She said she alerted a poll worker who got a police officer to remove the fliers.

Andrea Karshan was at P.S. 91 in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and said she saw a man leaving the polling place carrying a large pro-Eugene sign.

"He was exiting the voting area," she said. "He was holding a sign that said vote for the Eugene guy."

Other voters described seeing a van drive slowly past polling places, blaring campaign advertisements for Eugene.