POUGHKEEPSIE – Bard College and several other petitioners including college President Leon Botstein, are suing the Dutchess County Board of Elections in another attempt to have the Bertelsmann Campus Center designated as a polling place for District 5 in Red Hook.
A 2020 lawsuit over the polling place resulted in Dutchess County Supreme Court Justice Maria Rosa designating the college as a polling place after it was learned that Republican Election Commissioner Erik Haight was “untrue” when he testified to the judge about logistics.
Voters in District 5 were able to cast their 2020 ballots at the campus center after Judge Rosa ordered it.
The college has been trying since 2005 to have a polling place located on the liberal arts college campus. Each year they have been denied and their attorneys say the decision “defies fact, logic, and most importantly, the law.”
The primary polling place is Church of St. John the Evangelist and is not ADA compliant. Both the church and the former Democratic Elections Commissioner Beth Soto agreed that the polling place should be moved to Bard.
The Red Hook Town Board also endorsed the plan. Haight still refuses to agree to the idea. Unless both Haight and his Democratic counterpart, Hannah Black agree, the polling place cannot be changed unless a judge orders it.
Bard sent letters to the BOE in February and March of this year seeking to be designated as a place for votes to be cast. The BOE was supposed to designate the polling places by March 15 but failed to do it. “The inability of the BOE to reach a different result on or before March 15, 2021, cannot turn back the clock to some point in time before Judge Rosa’s orders,” said the attorneys.
A postcard mailed to voters from the BOE in April was “confusing,” according to the latest lawsuit. Sent to voters in the district, it lists the church as the official polling place. However, it also says “you may continue to vote at the accessible polling place on this card.” Lawyers say that because the church is not “accessible” pursuant to the ADA, the card is misleading.
The lawyers, Michael Donofrio of Montpelier, Vermont, and Yael Bromberg of New York City, are asking for the court to designate Bard College as the polling place for District 5.
No date has been set for arguments. POUGHKEEPSIE – Bard College and several other petitioners including college President Leon Botstein, are suing the Dutchess County Board of Elections in another attempt to have the Bertelsmann Campus Center designated as a polling place for District 5 in Red Hook.
A 2020 lawsuit over the polling place resulted in Dutchess County Supreme Court Justice Maria Rosa designating the college as a polling place after it was learned that Republican Election Commissioner Erik Haight was “untrue” when he testified to the judge about logistics.
Voters in District 5 were able to cast their 2020 ballots at the campus center after Judge Rosa ordered it.
The college has been trying since 2005 to have a polling place located on the liberal arts college campus. Each year they have been denied and their attorneys say the decision “defies fact, logic, and most importantly, the law.”
The primary polling place is Church of St. John the Evangelist and is not ADA compliant. Both the church and the former Democratic Elections Commissioner Beth Soto agreed that the polling place should be moved to Bard.
The Red Hook Town Board also endorsed the plan. Haight still refuses to agree to the idea. Unless both Haight and his Democratic counterpart, Hannah Black agree, the polling place cannot be changed unless a judge orders it.
Bard sent letters to the BOE in February and March of this year seeking to be designated as a place for votes to be cast. The BOE was supposed to designate the polling places by March 15 but failed to do it. “The inability of the BOE to reach a different result on or before March 15, 2021, cannot turn back the clock to some point in time before Judge Rosa’s orders,” said the attorneys.
A postcard mailed to voters from the BOE in April was “confusing,” according to the latest lawsuit. Sent to voters in the district, it lists the church as the official polling place. However, it also says “you may continue to vote at the accessible polling place on this card.” Lawyers say that because the church is not “accessible” pursuant to the ADA, the card is misleading.
The lawyers, Michael Donofrio of Montpelier, Vermont, and Yael Bromberg of New York City, are asking for the court to designate Bard College as the polling place for District 5.
No date has been set for arguments.
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Walden_Savings_Bank1.gif")
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FDR-Web.jpg")
