A Queens man active in Democrat and South Asian circles, was indicted Tuesday for allegedly casting 20 absentee ballots belonging to other voters, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
Abdul Rahman, 32, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to return to court next month, the district attorney said. His attorney declined to comment.
Rahman, who was a Democratic candidate for judicial delegate in the 38th Assembly District in 2022, was accused of casting 20 ballots in the state Senate’s 15th District primary in August 2022, but prosecutors said he applied to collect 118 absentee ballots, and32 of those applications were approved.
Vincent Ignizio, Board of Elections deputy executive director, did not respond to interview requests, but said in a statement, “The Board of Elections in the City of New York is proud to once again have identified and referred an election integrity issue to law enforcement.”
Calls and emails to Queens Democratic Party officials were not immediately returned.
Prosecutors did not say for whom Rahman cast ballots. One of the state Senate candidates up for election that year, Japneet Singh, said Rahman was active in the South Asian community organizations and helped him with his campaign.
“I don’t know where his politics lie, but in terms of how much he does for the community, like a lot of charity stuff, that’s where I know him,” Singh said in a phone interview.
Asked whom Rahman may have cast the ballots for, Singh said, “I would hope it would be for me, but I’m not sure.”
Rahman has made a number of small donations to various Democrats over the last several years including Phil Ramos for state Senate., Melinda Katz for district attorney, and Anna Kaplan for state Senate.
Prosecutors discovered the alleged fraud after a voter, Jordan Sandke, attempted to vote at his local polling place in Richmond Hill, Queens, officials said. Sandke was told that because he already requested an absentee ballot, he wouldn’t be able to vote in person, according to the district attorney.
“Shocked,” Sandke said in a phone interview. “I was just amazed something like that could happen.”
Investigators found Sandke’s absentee ballot application listed, which also included his name, address, date of birth and signature. The application listed Rahman as an authorized representative to pick up the ballot.
Sandke said he did not know Rahman, nor did he authorize his ballot to be picked up.
Prosecutors said Rahman visited the Queens County Board of Elections and dropped off 118 absentee ballot applications, all of which designated him as authorized to pick up the ballots.
The law for absentee ballots was narrowed in 2021 prohibiting voters from both requesting an absentee ballot and also casting a ballot at a polling site. This change made it easier to detect ballot fraud.
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