Reports Of Biased Election Day Checks Prompts Agency Statement

NEW YORK CITY — As campaign workers and volunteers across all five boroughs make Election Day pitches for candidates near polling places, some say they are being intimidated by members of the city’s Campaign Finance Board (CFB).

According to New York’s election law, campaign workers and volunteers can show up at polling places as long as they stay at least 100 feet away from the site. The CFB can also show up to polling sites and interview campaign workers to make sure that they are using public funds appropriately, though the workers can decline an interview request.

On Tuesday, some New Yorkers took to Twitter to protest what they described as inappropriate questioning and intimidation by CFB personnel, citing concerns that the activity disproportionately targets campaigns and voters of color, and could deter those communities from turning up to vote, too.

“I have audio recording of a New York City Campaign Finance Board private detective telling a white campaign worker ‘I don’t have to talk to you, good luck,’ and then proceeding to interrogate Black campaign workers,” wrote one person on Twitter, questioning how the private detectives choose who to question in “communities like Harlem and Southeast Queens,” which are primarily populated by people of color.

Queens Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz shared someone else’s statement about CFB personnel writing down the names of campaign volunteers.

In response, Cruz tweeted “if the New York City Campaign Finance Board wants to see receipts … so do we, we want to see the demographics on the ‘random’ audits. Your power should not be yielded in a way that can intimidate immigrants or justice involved folks from volunteering, [especially] today,” she wrote.

L. Joy Williams, a political strategist and president of the Brooklyn NAACP, said that she’s also seen “police officers telling campaign workers they have to be 500 ft away from [the] poll site. Just got into an argument with an officer and had to call his precinct,” she wrote.

In response, the CFB Executive Director Amy Loprest issued a statement, describing the Election Day “compliance checks” as “part of our routine audit process to ensure that campaigns are in compliance with the rules of the public funds program,” adding that the CFB only interviews campaign workers — who are “free to decline to be interviewed.”

She added that the interviewers “visit each poll site and campaign office briefly,” and that the purpose “of these spot-checks is to assure public funds are being spent appropriately.”

"Auditing campaigns to assure they are in compliance with the rules of the campaign finance program are an important part of our work, and that includes these interviews,” she said.

You can learn more about your rights, and speak with a nonpartisan volunteer from the Election Protection coalition from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST by calling 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).