NEW CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 29, 2025 / A seminal case questioning the accuracy of the 2024 Presidential and Senate election results in Rockland County, New York, is moving forward. In open court last Thursday, Judge Rachel Tanguay of the New York Supreme Court, ruled that discovery must proceed, pushing the lawsuit brought by SMART Legislation into the evidence-gathering stage. The lawsuit seeks a full hand recount of the Presidential and U.S. Senate races in Rockland County.
SMART Legislation, the action arm of SMART Elections, is the lead plaintiff in the case. Both organizations are dedicated to ensuring fair and accurate elections.
"There is clear evidence that the senate results are incorrect, and there are statistical indications that the presidential results are highly unlikely," stated Lulu Friesdat, Founder and Executive Director of SMART Legislation. "If the results are incorrect, it is a violation of the constitutional rights of each person who voted in the 2024 Rockland County general election. The best way to determine if the results are correct is to examine the paper ballots in a full public, transparent hand recount of all presidential and senate ballots in Rockland County. We believe it's vitally important, especially in the current environment, to be absolutely confident about the results of the election."
As stated in the complaint, more voters have sworn they voted for independent U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare than the Rockland County Board of Elections counted and certified, directly contradicting those results. Additionally, the presidential election results exhibit numerous statistical anomalies. The anomalies in the presidential race include multiple districts where hundreds of voters chose the Democratic candidate Kirsten Gillibrand for Senate, but where zero voters selected the Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Additionally, a statistician determined that the 2024 presidential election results were statistically highly unlikely in four of the five towns in Rockland County when compared with 2020 results.
Max Bonamente, Ph.D., Professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the author of the textbook, "Statistics and Analysis of Scientific Data," says in an upcoming paper on the Rockland data, "These data would require extreme sociological or political causes for their explanation, and would benefit from further assurances as to their fidelity."
Discovery could give both the court and the public a window into what issues in Rockland County are contributing to irregularities in the election results. Plaintiffs anticipate some depositions as well. Because the source of the discrepancies is unknown, a court-ordered recount could alter the election results or reveal issues in other races.
More on the Rockland County lawsuit
All court documents
Key Findings
Sworn voter affidavits reveal missing ballots
District 39 (Exhibit A): Nine voters signed sworn statements saying they cast ballots for Diane Sare in the U.S. Senate race. The Rockland County Board of Elections recorded just five votes-a nearly 50% shortfall.
District 62 (Exhibit B): Five voters said they voted for Sare; the Rockland County Board of Elections recorded three - a 40% deficit.
Drop-off Irregularities in Rockland County could mean the results are incorrect
Drop-off is a measure of the difference between the presidential candidate and a major down-ballot candidate of the same party.
A large positive drop-off indicates an "overperformance" by a candidate, meaning the candidate received more votes than is typical.
A large negative drop-off indicates an "underperformance" by a candidate, meaning the candidate received fewer votes than is typical and could signify votes are missing from the candidate's totals.
Republican drop-off (23%): 23% of Trump's totals in Rockland County exceed the 2024 Republican Senate candidate. The high drop-off rate illustrates that the presidential candidate far outperformed his down-ballot counterpart.
Democratic drop-off is negative (-9%): 9% of Harris' totals are below the Democratic Senate candidate. This is a highly unusual phenomenon that was repeated across the state and across the country. Rockland County is the first county where it is being formally investigated.
Why it matters
Typical drop-off rates run 1-2%. Gaps of 23% or -9% are surprising and could indicate that votes were miscounted.
Statistical Analysis, Manual Counts & Examination of Voting Systems Can Reveal Problems with Elections
In Bladen County, North Carolina, statistical discrepancies helped investigators identify fraudulent absentee ballots in both the 2016 and 2018 elections.
In Philadelphia, an election judge repeatedly committed election fraud in multiple elections. It was discovered by a local election official who noticed that the election results did not reconcile correctly and reported it to law enforcement.
In Windham County, N.H., voting machines counted the 2020 election results incorrectly due to dust in the machines and folds in the ballots. The incorrect counts were discovered in a hand recount and explained in a forensic audit.
About SMART Elections / SMART Legislation
SMART Elections is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to making U.S. elections secure, accurate, accessible, inclusive, well-administered, and publicly verifiable. SMART Legislation is the action arm of the organization.
Media Contact:
Lulu Friesdat | (917) 543-2125 | Lulu@SMARTelections.us
Photo Caption: Rockland County Courthouse, Rockland County, New York
Photo Credit: Lulu Friesdat
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SOURCE: Smart Elections
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/2024-presidential-and-senate-results-called-into-question-as-law-1033118
