Unscrupulous Partisans in Hudson?

The Register-Star reports today that Hudson Democrats and Republicans will be in court on Monday morning to hear a ruling on whether the handling of thirty-two permanent absentee ballots violated state election: "Ballot delivery brings parties to court."  

There are in Hudson a number of permanent absentee voters whose ballots are "carried" by people who are not relatives or neighbors or caregivers but people whose contact with these voters may be limited to hand-delivering their absentee ballots and returning the ballots to the Board of Elections. In the article, John Friedman, attorney for the Haddad campaign, cites the case of one such voter who "requested a new absentee ballot after feeling pressured after a ballot was hand-delivered to her." Commenting on the practice, Friedman is quoted as saying, “The people who are doing this carrying, they don’t check the people’s mail, take them to get groceries, sweep their front porch, these people are only interested in those voters for one reason and one reason only. [The voters] are easily influenced or pressured . . . and the one woman requesting a new ballot speaks volumes.”

Mayoral candidate Nick Haddad explained that the Democrats have taken the action to enforce the law that protects vulnerable voters from “undue influence, coercion, or outright fraud by what the highest court in New York called ‘unscrupulous partisans.’”