Many School Budget Ballots Delayed In Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — With the date for school district budget votes rapidly approaching, some districts are having problems getting the required mail-in ballots out to voters. Poughkeepsie school officials posted online that they've been unable to mail ballots out due to "unforeseen delays by NTS Data, the company that the district engaged to print and mail the district's ballots."

Poughkeepsie is not alone. Pearl River, Lakeland, Croton-Harmon, New Rochelle, Brewster and Mahopac also report problems.

They're all up against the current legal deadline to send out ballots — Wednesday.

Because of the new coronavirus pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders, the state pushed the original May 19 election date to June 9. State officials mandated the election to be absentee ballot only, with no polling sites operating on election day.

Ballots were to be mailed to all eligible voters. They must be received by the school districts by 5 p.m. June 9 in order to be counted.

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Poughkeepsie school officials were told by the printer that there was a significant supply issue with envelopes, "very similar to what happened with toilet paper and hand sanitizer in recent months but on a commercial level."

The printer told the district they were set to receive a delivery of millions of envelopes prior to the Memorial Day weekend that did not show up. All components of the absentee ballot packs were printed but the bulk of the supplies that had been ordered two weeks prior were missing when a delivery was made Wednesday.

"It is an awful situation and unfortunately totally out of our control," the printer said. "We will continue to mail ballots as the missing component supplies arrive and can be inserted.”

State Senator Pete Harckham, representing the 40th District, said he introduced legislation Tuesday that would extend the date for school district and library elections across the state until June 16.

In a news release, Harckham said the legislation is necessary because printing companies hired by a number of school districts have had serious problems getting the ballots ready.

"Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted a number of civic functions this spring, including school elections and votes," he said. "The mail-in absentee ballot option caused a perfect storm of logistical issues, however, and it is necessary to provide school districts with an extra week to get the ballots delivered and to ensure that every registered voter can cast a ballot."

Harckham said the Mahopac and Brewster districts, which are in the 40th District, were informed last week by their private printing company that the ballots would not be delivered in enough time for voters to return them by June 9.

School districts have been looking for alternative means of delivering and collecting completed ballot forms, including personal, door-to-door voting services.

Harckham said that, given the fact that Mahopac and Brewster have thousands of ballots to consider for each district, even extraordinary efforts still could not guarantee that all votes would be tallied in time.

The superintendent for the New Rochelle school district, Dr. Laura Feijóo, said the printer missed last week's deadline but said the ballots were set to be mailed Monday.

Feijóo said the district has expanded the hours — including over the weekend — during which the public can drop off the completed ballots in person at New Rochelle City Hall. She is still operating on the assumption that the ballots must be received no later than 5 p.m. June 9.

Likewise in the Croton-Harmon school district, the printer said the ballots were to be mailed by Monday.

Tracey Borges, the district clerk, said the public can either use the postage-paid envelope to send in the complete ballot or they can drop it off at the school district's office at 10 Gerstein St. in a drop box at the main entrance.

Borges will also be holding a question-and-answer session on completing the ballot as well as a discussion of the 2020-21 budget Tuesday.

Pearl River's ballots were also delayed at the printer. They are expected to be delivered to registered voters by Wednesday.

Dr. George Stone, the superintendent of the Lakeland Central School District, said his district was told the ballots were sent Monday but anticipates the mailed-in ballots will not make the deadline. They've installed a secure ballot box at the location where the voting usually takes place.

He said extending the deadline would help the district provide the opportunity for all voters' voices to be heard.

"We are also perplexed that at a time when there is such an economic crisis and the loss of significant state aid, we would be given yet another unfunded mandate costing tens of thousands of dollars," Stone said. "There truly appears to be an insensitivity to the needs or critically important functions of school districts across this state."

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