FALLSBURG — Five weeks after Election Day, Fallsburg still does not have a confirmed winner for the Town Supervisor position. As the Sullivan County Board of Elections (SCBOE) reissued certified election results on Tuesday, the race Fallsburg’s supervisor and councilmembers carries on.

As previously reported in the Democrat, the race for the Town Supervisor seat and three councilperson spots are tied up in litigation.

Steven Vegliante, the current Town Supervisor, filed his lawsuit on November 14 with the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Sullivan.

Vegliante’s challenger, Kathy Rappaport, filed her lawsuit two days before, on November 12.

According to Dan Hust, Director of Communications for Sullivan County, 990 absentee ballots were received before the deadline.

In a letter that has been received by some members of the Sullivan County Democratic Committee, Vegliante is seeking donations to help his legal costs and lays out why he is fighting to stay in office.

Vegliante says in the letter that this team is seeking aid from a handwriting expert.

“Some of those challenged votes are based upon signatures which we think is fraudulent, and to prove that, we will require a handwriting expert,” added Vegliante in the letter.

He states that his team expects the price of the expert should not exceed $20,000.

“The Vegliante campaign has produced no evidence of their broad-sweeping allegations of fraud, choosing instead to slander private citizens and the work of public servants at the Board of Elections,” said Rappaport. “This is reckless behavior and undermines our democracy. Vegliante is selfishly threatening to disenfranchise 400 tax-paying residents of Fallsburg via court action in a desperate attempt to hold on to his seat of power. This smear campaign of unsubstantiated claims is simply to drag the process out and sow doubt in the minds of the public, nothing more. My campaign has not objected to a single vote in this race. We believe every legal vote should count — including those for my opponent. All we are trying to do is open these ballots and finalize this election so the duly elected winner can move on to the important work of governing the town.”

When reached for comment, Vegliante said, “While I have generally not wanted to litigate these issues in the press, I would note that the allegations raised in our litigation are serious and must be addressed.  A simple review of our filings includes hundreds of residency questions, identity/signature discrepancies and a coordinated campaign of untruths and scurrilous behavior.  We need discovery to allow our experts to continue their work, and are hopeful that these claims will be reviewed in a hearing.”

Chair of the Sullivan County Democratic Committee, Anne Hart, said, “Mr. Vegliante, or any other candidate, has a perfect right to seek individual donations from Democrats and non-Democrats alike.”

Rappaport is asking in her lawsuit to verify the ballots cast on election night and the “validity” of all affidavits, emergency, absentee, military, special ballots, and any other ballot that were cast for the Fallsburg’s supervisor’s race.

And on the official Fallsburg election results, Hart added, “The Fallsburg election is still in litigation, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to make any comment.”