Submitted by Mount Pleasant Republican Committee:
On Monday, October 26th, Democratic candidate for Town Supervisor, Tom Abinanti, committed serious violations of the Election Law at the Mount Pleasant Community Center Early Voting location.
Video evidence recorded at the polling place confirms that candidate Tom Abinanti repeatedly bypassed polling place regulations at an active early voting site to solicit voters.
As documented on video, Abinanti entered the facility carrying campaign materials and attempted to enter a room hosting a senior program, located just feet from the active voting area. When staff intervened and informed him that soliciting during programming was prohibited, Abinanti disregarded their directives and immediately entered a second senior room within the venue.
Upon being instructed by site personnel to leave the building, Abinanti stated that he would relocate to the entrance of the building. Once outside on the exterior walkway—well within the 100-foot marker—he resumed handing out campaign literature until a Democratic poll inspector intervened and reprimanded him for electioneering within restricted limits.
Rather than leaving the premises, Abinanti combated the poll inspector, falsely claiming that no warning signs were posted—at which point the poll inspector explicitly pointed out the legal distance marker signs on site. During these exchanges, Abinanti explicitly proclaimed to election personnel that he is an “election attorney.”
As a practicing attorney, a 12-year former New York State Assemblyman who personally served on the Assembly Committee on Election Law, and a career politician whose current campaign relies heavily on criticizing his opponent over “ethical concerns,” Abinanti cannot claim ignorance of standard voting rules.
Under New York State Election Law § 17-130(9), soliciting votes or distributing campaign material within 100 feet of a polling site entrance—or anywhere inside a building hosting a voting location—is explicitly forbidden and constitutes a Class A Misdemeanor.
For a candidate who bases his campaign on lecturing others about governance to invoke his self-proclaimed credentials as an election attorney while actively violating state election law on camera exposes severe hypocrisy. Voters in Mount Pleasant deserve integrity and adherence to the law. We call on Town administration to preserve all recorded video footage and relevant evidence so that the District Attorney can initiate a formal investigation of these documented violations.
About the Mount Pleasant Republican Committee The Committee supports Republican candidates for office, helps residents register to vote, and organizes volunteers. Learn more at mtpleasantgop.org.