Who forged the signatures of 3 dead men on Peekskill Councilman Rob Scott's petitions?
Who inked the signatures of three dead Peekskill men to petitions supposedly witnessed by Peekskill Common Councilman Rob Scott in his failed bid to qualify for the Democratic primary for county legislator in June?
Who signed for Debby and Jim Mickelson, new arrivals to Peekskill who were outraged that their signatures were forged?
And who signed the names of Cathy Martone and David Hallerman? They're a Peekskill couple who told Tax Watch they never put their names on Scott’s petition.
Scott's petitions: See if your name was signed to Scott's petitions
Scott certified that he had witnessed all 531 signatures on each of the 37 petition sheets he submitted to run against Legislator Colin Smith, D-Peekskill.
The signature for Hallerman, which was printed and not in cursive, added an extra “N” to his last name.
“That’s not my signature,” he said. “My name isn’t even spelled correctly. That’s not Cathy’s signature either. This is low and obnoxious. We need some light on this.”
Peekskill Councilman Rob Scott says he can't explain the forgeries
Scott, who owns PK Blendz Juice Bar on Main Street in Peekskill, denied forging the signatures. He said he was stunned to learn that his petition included the names of some who had not signed — such as the dead. From behind the counter of his juice bar, he said the political reality in Peekskill sounded like a Hollywood thriller.
“This is like stuff you see on TV, you know?” Scott said. “It’s like the stuff you see in movies.”
Debby Mickelson, with her husband, Bob, moved to the city along the Hudson River in 2019 from South Carolina. They've become involved in city politics, with Debby serving as a Democratic district leader. She was so perturbed that her name was signed to Scott’s petition that she filed a complaint with Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah, whose office has launched an investigation.
“Our names were forged, and Rob Scott signed off as the witness,” said Debby Mickelson. “We need accountability for these actions.”
Her husband was displeased as well.
“There were signatures from people who apparently have risen from the dead,” Bob Mickelson said. “To see how my name was signed, it looks like one person wrote down a whole bunch of names.”
Smith said the DA’s investigation was warranted because the Peekskill city councilman serves as an elected official. Scott, who makes refreshing Berry Blast smoothies at his downtown Peekskill storefront, was elected to the City Council in 2021.
“He’s a sitting public official,” said Smith. “It’s so blatant and gratuitous.”
Didn't make the ballot
Scott never made the ballot for the June primary.
In late April, the Westchester County Board of Elections sustained objections to 217 of the 531 signatures that Scott certified he witnessed, putting him far below the 500 signatures required to obtain ballot status. A glance through the pages of petitions found similarities in the handwriting of many signatories.
The biggest red flag was with the witness statements, according to the ruling. Those witness-statement issues, which were not detailed in the ruling, disqualified 150 signatures. An additional 33 signatures were rejected because whoever signed the document printed the voter's name instead of writing it in cursive, as was the case with Hallerman’s signature.
Fourteen more signatures were tossed because they had been signed to Smith’s petition before signing Scott’s, and seven names were disqualified because the name was unidentifiable by name or address.
The board of elections’ ruling noted it cannot rule on alleged fraud or forgery.
Scott said he made extra efforts to make sure the names on his petition were correct. He said he was aware of Smith’s successful challenge of petitions filed by former Peekskill Mayor Andre Rainey in 2022 when Smith and Rainey sought to qualify for the Democratic primary for the 95th state Assembly District, which was won by former Ossining Supervisor Dana Levenberg.
Scott said he checked the names of those signing his petition against a voter database that used information from the Westchester Board of Elections.
“Because I knew Colin had a history with this, I was going to make sure that every single person was in the system,” said Scott. “All I cared about was that you were in the system.”
'Signatures' from the dead
Among those classified as "active" voters who signed for Scott were Calvin Davis, who died on March 31, 2012, and Dr. Aman Bakshi, who died May 3, 2017, according to obituaries included in the objections.
A third deceased voter, Daniel Rodriguez of Peekskill, died in November 2022, according to his death certificate appended to the challenge.
"If it happened once, then OK," said Smith. "At some point, it strains credulity."
Elections Commissioner Tajian Nelson said the board relies on notifications on voters who have died from the state Board of Elections, which receives periodic reports from the state Department of Health.
She said the board also sends out periodic postcards to voters to see if they get returned as undeliverable by the US Postal Service. If the postcards get returned, voters are still kept on the rolls for up to four years and then removed.
But sometimes deceased voters remain on the voter rolls.
"If we don’t get notification from the state or a family member, we don’t automatically know they are deceased,” Nelson said. “We need notification from an agency, the state Board of Elections, the town clerk, or the family.”
Even notification from the family may not be enough.
“Years ago, a husband and wife were in a bitter dispute and she wrote to us that her husband was deceased," Nelson said. "Imagine our surprise when we found out that he was not dead.”
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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Peekskill councilman had names of three dead people on voter petitions
