ROCHESTER, N.Y. —  The Monroe County Board of Elections is responding to concerns from some candidates about its primary night election process.

What You Need To Know

  • The Monroe County Board of Elections will now have a policy of only allowing sworn authorized employees of the board in the offices of the Board of Elections from 8 p.m. until the close of business on any Election Day

  • An official certification of this primary election will be submitted to the New York State Board of Elections on or before July 19

“If I lost, I congratulate my opponent," said City Court judge primary candidate and former Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren as she addressed a gathering Tuesday night. "But it has to be a fair and a just process."

Warren said her attorney was denied entry to the Board of Elections to observe.

“On election night, we have always had somebody in the Board of Elections observing the process," she said. "But tonight, we were denied that. Tonight, when the vote was only 653 between me and my opponent, we were denied the right to go in and make sure that the process was fair [and] that the process was right.”

The Monroe County Board of Elections responded with a statement on Wednesday:

“We share the public's concern about security and safety of the electoral process, which is why the Monroe County Board of Elections will now have a policy of only allowing sworn authorized employees of the board in the offices of the Board of Elections from 8 p.m. until the close of business on any election day. As has always been the case, no physical ballots are being counted during this time…Candidates and their representatives are allowed and encouraged to attend many Board of Election events throughout their campaigns where ballots are counted and reviewed.”

Another concern from Warren and some other candidates, including Willie Lightfoot, who was running for the 137th Assembly District, was the reporting of the returns by the BOE.

“Typically we get ED’s reporting," Lightfoot said. "We get districts reporting. We get how many percentages are in, how many are out, how many are left to be brought in, and those types of things. We didn’t see that."

The Board Elections addressed that issue in its statement as well:

“The Monroe County Board of Elections confidently displayed accurate results from election night of June 25, 2024. All unofficial results were posted to our website by 10:30 pm. The ‘number of districts reporting’ not being displayed has no effect on the accuracy of the results.”

“I can tell you that there’s been problems at the Board of Elections," Lightfoot said. "I can tell you that anybody that just looks at and pays attention to things that have been going on over the last few years, there’s been a lot of issues and problems at the Board of Elections. I think we need to look deeper into what’s going on over there."

“Right now, the candidate and her committee are gathering facts to determine whether the actions and activities at the BOE were undertaken consistent with their responsibilities legally and ethically," Warren’s attorney, John DeMarco, said.

“It is a travesty that neither I can sit here and say that I know this process was fair and just and that he accurately won the race because of what the Board of Elections decided to do today right," Warren said. "It’s a policy all of the sudden today. You can’t come in and watch and observe as these votes are taken and cast.”

An official certification of this primary election will be submitted to the New York State Board of Elections on or before July 19.