The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation into a Long Island school board election following allegations that a district clerk discarded voter ballots to benefit a local DJ running for re-election.
Hempstead Union Free School District Clerk April Keys and incumbent school board President Victor Pratt — known professionally as DJ Vic-Lover — are now under criminal investigation after district officials turned over evidence alleging Keys destroyed ballots and removed them from her office to a dumpster in an effort to help Pratt keep his seat, a spokesperson for District Attorney Anne Donnelly confirmed to The Post.
The spokesperson declined to provide additional details about the investigation.
The development comes after the school district in June released the findings of an internal investigation in a 51-page report that detailed alleged irregularities tied to the May school board elections.
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According to the report, Pratt won the race by only 81 votes, aided by what investigators described as an unusually high number of absentee and early mail ballots, despite finishing third among candidates on machine-counted in-person votes.
The probe found that Pratt, an incumbent trustee on the Board of Education, received 87% of absentee ballots and 55% of early mail ballots, but just 27% of in-person machine votes. Other trustee candidates, by comparison, received fewer than 100 absentee and early mail ballots combined, investigators said.
District officials alleged in the report that Keys, who was responsible for administering the election, tore up validly cast ballots before removing them from her office and throwing them away with assistance from custodian Owen Peters and Pratt himself.
The district’s findings prompted New York State officials to step in and order a new election, scheduled for Aug. 17. The state also named a temporary clerk to supervise the vote: Neil Boyd, superintendent of Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES.
Keys was placed on administrative leave three days after the election, according to the district.
