Democrats in New York want the state’s Board of Elections to investigate state Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox for voter fraud.
The New York Daily News reported Tuesday that while Cox and his wife have been residents of New York City for decades, they are registered to vote at a Long Island, N.Y. address that is part of an estate owned by Cox’s brother. A complaint filed by the co-chairman of the state Democratic party, Assemblyman Keith Wright, said Ed Cox’s name does not appear on any records for the Long Island address.
“For the leader of one of the state’s major political parties to engage in voter fraud is as unconscionable as it is unlawful,” Wright wrote. “We expect you to fully investigate these serious charges.”
Cox told the Daily news that the Long Island property has been in his family since the 19th century.
“I was born there, I was brought up there, we have our burial plots there,” he said. “That’s what I define as home.”
A spokesperson for the state Board of Elections, John Conklin, told the newspaper that courts have given leeway to where a person can register if they can prove “legitimate, significant and continuing attachments” to an address.
Republican officials in a number of states in recent years pushed voter ID efforts to prevent voter fraud — despite evidence that actual voter fraud is relatively rare. Democrats have argued that Republican voter ID efforts will have a disproportionate effect on poor and minority voters.
