Newtown Republicans Spar Over Developer-Funded Voter Registration Drive

A former candidate for Newtown Township supervisor who was defeated in the May Republican primary has filed a complaint with the County Board of Elections after he says his opponent benefitted from an illegally-funded voter registration drive.

Rob Ciervo, whose opponent Kyle Davis won the primary by a mere 13 votes, says a voter registration drive pushed by McGrath Homes likely made his opponent the victor.

On April 9, McGrath Homes sent an email to residents of its Villas of Newtown development asking residents to change their party affiliation so they could vote for Davis. Patch has obtained a copy of this email.

“We have been asked to suggest that VON (Village of Newtown) residents participate in the upcoming primary election scheduled for May 19th and consider voting for Kyle Davis, a Republican candidate. To that end Voter Registration Applications have been made available together with stamped, self-addressed envelopes. Individuals who are not currently registered as Republicans would have the option of re-registering for the primary vote and thereafter revisit their registration options,” the email to Village of Newtown residents sent by community’s Board of Directors reads.

McGrath is preparing an application to build additional units at the development, which would require the demolition of a historic farmhouse. Ciervo has been vocal in his opposition to the destruction of the farmhouse, an issue that goes back nearly a year.

In September, Davis, along with two other Republican supervisors, chose not to deny the developer’s application for additional units, despite the fact that restoration of the farmhouse was a condition of approval when McGrath received the go-ahead to construct the 172-unit development back in 2006.

The issue was tabled so the board and the developer could work together on a compromise.

Now, McGrath is preparing another application that would require the demolition of the farmhouse to make way for additional units, a move that is supported by a majority of residents in the development but is controversial among others in town.

Ciervo says such action by the community’s Board of Directors is a violation of state election law, since someone paid for the stamps other than the voters themselves. The drive, he believes, changed the outcome of the election, which was decided by just 13 votes. After the email was sent on April 9, 29 Villas of Newtown residents—24 Democrats and five Independents—changed their affiliation ahead of the primary.

The 29 people from Villas at Newtown who switched affiliations accounted for more than 50 percent of the changes township-wide. A total of 52 Newtown Township residents changed their party affiliation ahead of the May primary.

“This demonstrates that our campaign was successful among actual Newtown Township Republicans and our opponent needed the support of a housing developer to arrange an illegal voter registration drive to win a local election. A sad day for Newtown,” Ciervo wrote in an email to Patch.

Davis called Ciervo’s assertions “baseless.”

“As Supervisor, I work hard to listen to the concerns of all residents and achieve common sense results that help Newtown Township. I think that is why the people of the Villas undertook this effort,” Davis said in an email to Patch.