Two losing candidates’ claims of irregularities in Eden disputed
An Eden school official and a former Eden School Board member are disputing allegations made by two of the losing candidates in last week’s School Board election.
“The district doesn’t see any basis to these claims,” Eden Finance Director Lisa Almasi said Tuesday. “To the best of our knowledge, everything has been done appropriately.”
The two candidates, Pamela Klein-Gibbins and Michael Byrnes, have officially contested the election and have hired attorney Steven Cohen to represent them in the action. Cohen cited exit polling that he said showed overwhelming support for both Klein-Gibbins and Byrnes, as well as a malfunctioning voting machine.
“It looked like there was support for Pamela and Mike of about three to one, based on people exiting the polls,” he told The Buffalo News last week.
Almasi said there was no official exit poll, as did former board member John Armbrust, who said it was the candidates themselves who were questioning voters both before and after entering the polling place.
“I was approached by Mrs. Gibbins, who asked me who I was going to vote for,” he said. “She tried to intimidate me on the way in.”
Armbrust said he knew of many others who complained of strong-arm tactics as they prepared to vote, some of whom, he said, also complained to the League of Women Voters and the school district.
Almasi also addressed the question of a malfunctioning voting machine. She said four votes were recorded on one machine, which developed problems and did not work.
“We removed the machine and put the spare into use,” she said.
Almasi said the Erie County Board of Elections was called in, the first machine was repaired and then became the backup machine.
“We did not need to reuse it,” she said.
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