Campaign chief of staff for Scott Stringer shares misleading information regarding ranked choice voting.
In a controversial turn of events, a senior aide to Scott Stringer’s mayoral campaign has allegedly disseminated misleading information regarding voting procedures to constituents. Elaine Fan, the campaign’s chief of staff, utilized popular WeChat forums within New York City’s Chinese community to instruct voters that it is “prohibited” to select multiple candidates on their Democratic primary ballots. Screenshots of these messages were obtained by Media News Source.
Fan’s communications, which appeared over the weekend, prompted followers to focus their votes solely on Scott Stringer, while incorrectly asserting that “multiple selections are prohibited.” These messages were presented in Simplified Chinese and accompanied by a visual depicting a mock primary ballot featuring only Stringer’s name. A qualified native Chinese speaker independently translated the content for clarity.
The dissemination occurred in several WeChat groups, four of which are known to have collective membership nearing 1,100 individuals. However, contrary to Fan’s assertions, voters participating in the Democratic primary scheduled for June 24 are allowed to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, a system first implemented during the 2021 local elections. New York State law expressly prohibits any form of “intimidation, deception, or obstruction” that may hinder a voter’s right to cast their ballot.
When contacted for clarifications, Fan suggested that her messages could be subject to varied interpretations but did not provide detailed responses. Scott Stringer’s spokesperson, Sam Raskin, stated that Stringer was not aware of the graphic’s creation or its distribution, reiterating the campaign’s commitment to accurate information dissemination and encouraging voter participation in the election.
In an effort to rectify the situation, Fan later attempted to clarify her comments in one forum. She mentioned concerns about prior voting patterns, particularly referencing Andrew Yang’s supporters in the 2021 elections and the potential for their votes to render ballots invalid if multiple selections were made. However, she faced criticism in another forum where her graphic was labeled as “misleading,” prompting her to defend the accuracy of her message.
Fan, previously the Director of Asian Affairs for Governor Kathy Hochul, has reportedly received more than 0,000 in salary from the Stringer campaign since August 2024. This controversy unfolds amid an uphill battle for momentum in Stringer’s mayoral campaign, where recent polling indicates he remains in single-digit support, significantly trailing frontrunner Andrew Cuomo and second-place candidate Zohran Mamdani.
As the primary election approaches, the ramifications of these misleading messages could have implications for voter turnout and campaign credibility, igniting discussions about the importance of accurate voter information in democratic processes.
