To the Editor:

The voting procedures at the Democratic caucus that established the party’s candidate for town justice on July 26 were chaotic and the results must be considered suspect. When it came time to vote, nearly 300 people advanced on those giving out ballots all at once. Attempts to get people into a line and allow access for the disabled involved yelling and a bit of pushing. Ballot control was haphazard. It would've been simple for someone on either side to vote multiple times.

Here is how it went down: Democrats on the registry of voters signed in upon entering and received a decal sticker saying, “I Voted” and hands were stamped. That sticker was later to be surrendered in order to get a ballot. However, these stickers were not secured or locked away.

Anyone wishing to, might have been able to keep a roll of them or pick up a bunch and surreptitiously hand out more. It would have been possible to get back into the mob of people waiting and get a second ballot. No effort was made to separate would-be voters from those who had already voted.

Careful planning and professionalized procedures could have overcome the casual ambiance of the open-air picnic-table pavilion site in which the caucus was held. Since this wasn’t the case,  Bryan Clenahan, who won by a slim margin of only 21 votes, runs with an air of illegitimacy. This adds to the suspicion of nepotism that surrounds his candidacy since he is the son-in-law of currently presiding town justice, Denise Randall.

Fortunately for our whole town, the incumbent, Justice Christine Napierski, will be running on the Conservative line in November; we all get another shot at electing a justice not tainted by machine politics.

Lynn Kinlan

Guilderland

Editor’s note: See related story.