‘Let’s move on:’ Thomas withdraws voter suppression complaint

After a month of accusing the Westchester Board of Elections of voter suppression in the Democratic mayoral primary, embattled Mayor Richard Thomas has withdrawn his complaint.

News 12 Staff

Jul 24, 2019, 9:16 PM

Updated 1,783 days ago

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After a month of accusing the Westchester Board of Elections of voter suppression in the Democratic mayoral primary, embattled Mayor Richard Thomas has withdrawn his complaint.         
That decision was made Wednesday morning in front of state Supreme Court Judge Lawrence Ecker.
Thomas told News 12 that he still believes there are serious voting irregularities in the Democratic primary that should be investigated. He says the decision to dismiss the case is best for Mount Vernon.
"The bottom line is it takes resources to really run a case like this and those resources are simply not available to me at this moment," says Thomas.
Democratic Elections Commissioner Reginald Lafayette said from the beginning the board ran a fair election. It even invited the Thomas administration and the declared winner, Shawyn Patterson-Howard, to sit in as they counted the final absentee and affidavit ballots.
"We are confident we ran a fair election. We could’ve went on if he didn't withdraw. Now that he's withdrawn, it's in the history book. It's over," says Lafayette.
As part of his plea deal for admitting guilt to campaign finance charges, Thomas will leave office Sept. 30.
Until then, he says he will focus on creating an easy transition for the next sitting mayor. Council President Andre Wallace will take his place until the elected mayor steps in Jan. 1.


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