From my online report this afternoon at CityandStateNY.com:
Photo courtesy CityandStaeNY.com
An independent review of Michael Blake’s residence reveals that prior to registering to vote in the Bronx in 2013; Blake lived and voted in Washington, D.C. Tax records indicate he paid income taxes in the District of Columbia, as well.
Board of Elections records indicate that Blake first registered to vote in New York in June 2013 from Edison Arms, a federally subsidized apartment complex for seniors and disabled people, where his mother lives. Edison Arms, located on Decatur Ave., is in the Bronx’s 78th AD. This past January, Blake re-registered from 837 Washington Avenue in the 79th AD, the district in which he is now running to replace disgraced former assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who was convicted in May of accepting bribes.
Blake appears to have no New York City voting history prior to last year. He voted by absentee ballot in the 2013 primary and general elections. He voted in person for the public advocate run-off election that October. On both of his absentee ballot applications and absentee ballot affidavits, Blake claimed his mother’s Decatur Avenue address as his primary address. Oddly, he had the primary absentee ballot mailed to him at his Washington Avenue address.Steve Richman, counsel to the New York City Board of Elections, points out that a signed absentee ballot application listing a new home address serves as a “change of address.
”On the general election absentee ballot application that he filed on November 4, 2013, Blake again listed his residence as 2828 Decatur Ave.
Blake didn’t file an official change of address to the 79th AD with the Board of Elections until January 2014—missing the change of address deadline that would have made him eligible to run for the Assembly.
Michael Benjamin
