June 19, 2020
Dear Lyndonville Community,
The Lyndonville Central School District is aware of a concern raised by a resident family regarding this week’s school budget and Board of Education vote. Our district is committed to an honest and transparent process and felt it was important to share this information with you.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued health concerns, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.26 that mandated each New York State school district conduct their school budget and Board of Education vote through absentee ballots. Thus, all votes were required to be mailed in and no on-site voting could occur. This process posed significant challenges and costs for districts. In an attempt to comply with all regulations, the district worked with the New York State School Boards Association, our school attorney and secured third party inspectors. Unfortunately, given the number of votes and human error, there are inherent risks in this process.
As part of the 2020 vote review, the election inspectors (who were approved by the Board of Education) made a mistake in reading two names. These names were read into the record and their votes were subsequently recorded anonymously. The residents contacted the district and indicated they did not vote. Superintendent Jason Smith then contacted the residents and apologized for the error. We have retained the envelope in question and are working to re-verify the signatures.
The district had a team of ten staff re-watch the entire ballot counting video earlier this week and re-verify all names into the official record. The complete list of voters will be posted on our website next week.
The district has no reason to believe that fraudulent voting occurred. We do have reason to believe that our inspectors erred in an honest effort to validate this particular ballot. Education law and processes will determine future outcomes if there are challenges. The election results, as they were reported, stand, and the district has no legal means to modify or adjust the results.
We would like to thank our community for your overwhelming support for the 2020-21 budget, as this year was especially challenging. Like all school districts in the region and across New York State, our number of votes increased due to the absentee ballot process.
Congratulations to Jerod Thurber on his election to our Board of Education, thank you to Kelly Cousins for her six years of dedicated service, and thank you to Jeanne Crane, Ace Strickland and Ralph Smith for their interest in serving our students.
Thank you.
Theodore Lewis, Board of Education President
Jason Smith, Superintendent of Schools