A Long Island resident impressively amassed over 1,100 votes in a local election without running a single campaign advertisement. Only thing is, the 83-year-old candidate reportedly had no clue she was running for office.
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Maria Delgado, an elderly grandmother, pulled in more than 1,100 votes on the liberal Working Families Party line for Town Supervisor. However, Delgado says she never intended to run and is unsure why she was listed on the ballot.
Still, despite not intentionally running for office, her inclusion resulted in the GOP candidate edging out a victory, sparking outrage among Democrats who believe Delgado was placed on the ballot by Republicans to steal votes.
The bizarre election results are under investigation.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James served subpoenas to the town of Huntington and is asking for records from its 2025 elections, according to Christine Geed, a spokesperson for the municipality.
"The AG subpoenaed the Town for employment records relating to that investigation. The Town is fully cooperating with the AG's Office," Geed said.
Regarding the legitimacy of Delgado's pursuit of office, one resident offered a blunt assessment.
"There's two options," New York Working Families Party spokesman Aaron Shapiro said in November. "Either she knew she was running or she lied and there's fraud."
Democrat Rich Schaffer was also less than convinced by Delgado's story.
"Maria Delgado is a shill candidate. I'm sure she probably doesn't even realize she's a candidate," Suffolk Dem Chairman Rich Schaffer said. "What [Republicans] did is meant to siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. It's gone on over several cycles in Huntington."
Town Republicans, however, previously called the accusations of party raiding "post-election spin and sour grapes."
New Jersey Deals With Massive Voting Issue
The Long Island town was not the only area impacted by voter issues.
Roughly 6,600 people in New Jersey who said they were not U.S. citizens had been incorrectly registered to vote due to a technical error during the previous gubernatorial administration, Gov. Mike Sherrill said Tuesday.
She added that only 400 of those non-citizens actually voted, and that the state is taking action to remove them from the voting results.
