DUTCHESS COUNTY, New York — “I’m sorry sir, but you already voted.”

“No I didn’t,” 55-year-old Mike Miner told a Wappingers Falls election worker on Sunday — yet that’s not what election records showed.

Miner told The Federalist that he decided to vote early, just one day after early voting began on Saturday.

“I went up to the table and was told I already voted,” Miner said. “I ask, ‘Where did I vote?’ Because, of course, this is very surprising to me. And they told me I voted in the town of Fishkill [which is located next to Wappingers], 22 minutes after early voting began on Saturday.”

Miner was given an affidavit ballot, which is a provisional ballot that is secured inside an affidavit envelope. A bipartisan team at the Dutchess County Board of Elections investigated the situation and determined that since the signature provided Saturday did not match Miner’s actual signature, Miner’s affidavit ballot will count — but so will the fraudulent vote cast Saturday in Miner’s name. That’s because once a ballot is cast, the vote itself becomes anonymous, making it impossible to identify the fraudulent vote and remove it from the bunch.

“This election is so important to me, and for somebody to vote in my name — I feel so violated,” Miner said.

Erik Haight, the Republican election commissioner on the Dutchess County Board of Elections, told The Federalist that he takes the incident extremely seriously and will be working with local law enforcement to get to the bottom of what happened.

“We were made aware of the situation almost immediately when [Miner] showed up to vote. We instructed the bipartisan team of election inspectors to issue Mr. Miner an affidavit ballot, and we had an agreement with both Democrat and Republican commissioners that this affidavit ballot will count,” Haight told The Federalist. “I have referred this matter to the District Attorney’s office so that they can do an investigation and we will follow up on this very thoroughly.”

“We want to assure the public that our elections are secure, that it’s possible this was an honest mistake — but if not we are going to investigate it — and that we encourage everyone who is eligible to vote to vote and know their vote will count,” Haight said.

But Miner says it’s “ridiculous” that a system — which is supposedly “secure,” according to Haight — doesn’t require ID to vote, which could have prevented the fraudulent vote from being cast.

“You don’t have to show ID to vote, I think it’s ridiculous — anyone can walk in, just as what happened to me, and say ‘I’m so and so’ and vote. So I don’t believe the system is safe right now,” Miner said. “And I know I’m only one vote, but I have the right to vote and my vote should count. Someone shouldn’t steal your vote and that be able to count. I don’t know the outcome of that vote — what if it was opposite of what I voted? Then it cancels my vote out.”

But Miner’s situation could have been avoided if New York wanted to have an ounce of integrity in their elections. The Empire State is one of 14 states that do not require voters to show ID in order to vote. In fact, voters who try to voluntarily show an election worker their ID for posterity’s sake are given the cold shoulder — at least that’s what happened to Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk.

“At early voting in NYC today, no ID required,” Musk posted on X. “They actually won’t even look at your ID.”

And New Yorkers can thank the Democrat supermajority in the state legislature for their insecure elections. Assembly Bill 06297 was introduced in April of 2023 and would require voters to provide proof of identity when casting a ballot.

But Assemblyman Anil Beephan, who cosponsored the legislation, confirmed to The Federalist that the bill did not make it out of committee because the Democrat supermajority prohibited the bill from being voted on, thereby preventing it from a full floor vote. Beephan said Miner’s incident only deepens his resolve for action to secure elections.

“After speaking with [Miner] I am even more resolved in my support for initiatives in the state legislature that would require voter identification at the polls,” Beephan told The Federalist. “It’s unfortunate that a fraudulent ballot will be counted in this critical election year. Even a single illegitimate vote undermines the integrity of our democratic process and threatens the fairness of election outcomes, especially when similar cases may go undetected.”

But it’s not just New York State Democrats who want to prevent election integrity measures from being put in place. Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed in March to fight election security laws like those that would require voter ID.

“We are challenging efforts by states and jurisdictions to implement discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot, including those related to mail-in voting, the use of drop boxes, and voter ID requirements.”

But voter ID laws aren’t any more “discriminatory” than, for example, the Democratic National Convention requiring proof of ID in order to get in for “security” purposes.

As I previously wrote, “Voter ID requirements serve the same purpose as security screenings at the DNC: they prevent ineligible persons from participating” in elections.

If New York had voter ID laws for election “security” purposes, Miner wouldn’t have been disenfranchised.

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.

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Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2