Prosecutor’s Office searches A-Team headquarters
Action may be linked to messenger ballots, source says
Investigators from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office executed a search warrant on Saturday afternoon at the Asbury Park campaign headquarters of the A-Team election ticket, according to a source with knowledge of the events.
The investigators appeared to be “looking for ballots” at the Asbury Avenue premises, the source said. The Prosecutor’s Office has been investigating the use of messenger ballots in the campaign since a rival ticket, AP Out Front, alleged that workers connected with the A-Team were mishandling the ballots.
The A-Team candidates are former Asbury Park Councilman Jim Keady, former Board of Education member Remond Palmer, Nora Hyland, Daniel Harris and Duanne Small. Twenty two candidates are seeking five council seats in the May 14 non-partisan election.
“We are working in full cooperation with the prosecutor’s office,” Keady said on Saturday. “We are sure that they will execute a thorough investigation to ensure that the voters of Asbury Park have a free and fair election.”
The city saw an explosion in the number of messenger ballot requests this election year, with 336 having been requested. None were requested in the last city council election in 2009. In the messenger ballot system, the voter designates someone to pick up a ballot for them at county election offices in Freehold. The voter can then return the completed ballot by mail, or designate the messenger or another individual to bring the ballot back to Freehold for tabulation. A messenger can obtain ballots for no more than 10 voters.
After AP Out Front complained about the handling of messenger ballots through the letter to Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French, French required that the 42 messengers sign an affidavit affirming that each messenger would deliver the ballots directly to the voters, and would meet the voters. The affidavit also states that violating the laws governing messenger ballots constitutes a third-degree crime.
As of last week, seven of the 42 messengers had returned their affidavits. If messengers do not return their affidavits, French will forward to the Prosecutor’s Office a list of the voters those messengers represented, she said. The Prosecutor’s Office will then “follow up” with those voters, she said.
Fifteen of the 42 messengers have links to the A-Team slate. The last campaign finance report for the A-Team’s joint candidate campaign fund indicates that 10 individuals who the A-Team paid for “get out the vote” [GOTV] activities are also designated messengers, according to records in the county election offices. The treasurer for the candidates’ individual accounts, Knowryl Hammary, is also listed as a messenger.
In addition, Citizens for Change, a political action committee [PAC] linked to the A-Team, paid four individuals who were also listed as messengers for GOTV work. The PAC reported having raised $7,050 in its most recent campaign finance report. Three contributions totaling $7,000 did not include the source of the contributions, as required. Instead, the report indicated that information about the sources would come later. That report was filed on April 15. Two A-Team candidates — Nora Hyland and Jim Keady — said they did not know the source of the funds, and that the PAC operated independently. The PAC also paid for A-Team billboards and lawn signs, among other expenditures.
Campaign managers for the three other council tickets said their campaigns were not using messengers, and that their candidates had no connection with any of the 42 designated messengers.
Last week, the Asbury Park Sun sent the A-Team campaign manager a list of questions regarding the use of messengers by the A-Team campaign. The Sun asked about the 42 messengers’ affiliation with the campaign, the number of messengers paid for campaign work, and how the group has ensured that ballots are delivered directly to voters as required.
The A-Team slate chose not to respond to the questions, and instead issued the following statement on behalf of all five candidates: “The A-Team is following all applicable election laws and guidelines as outlined by the County Clerk’s office. We are committed to ensuring that the citizens of Asbury Park have a free and fair election.”
