New York City’s Queens District Attorney, Melinda Katz, announced yesterday that six defendants have been indicted for allegedly submitting false “absentee ballots” during the June 2023 primary election for the 20th District City Council in Flushing, New York. These individuals were assisting the Republican City Council candidate for the 20th District, Yu-Ching James Pai, at that time.
The five individuals involved are: Sydnee Pai, 19 years old; Li Zhen Wan, 46 years old; Yee Ping Yam, 53 years old; Lisbeth Cheng, 24 years old; and Crystal You, 20 years old. They appeared in the Queens County Supreme Court on July 25 and are scheduled to return to court on September 19. Another defendant will have a separate arraignment.
Katz stated that the six defendants collectively face 161 charges. If convicted, they could potentially be sentenced up to 7 years in prison. The charges include forgery of documents, falsifying business records, illegal voting, and other offenses. They are accused of submitting fraudulent “absentee ballot” applications during the primary campaign for Yu-Ching James Pai in Flushing.
According to the indictment, between March 1 and June 27, 2023, the defendants volunteered in Pai’s campaign and went to the New York City Board of Elections to pick up ballots for voters intending to cast “absentee ballots.” An investigation was initiated by the Queens District Attorney’s office after a voter complained that upon trying to cast their ballot at the polling station, they were informed that their vote had already been cast.
The District Attorney’s office investigated several individuals who had applied for “absentee ballots,” none of whom claimed to have met the defendants or received any such ballots. It was revealed that a total of 23 Queens voters were victims of identity theft in which fraudulent “absentee ballot” applications were submitted and votes were cast on their behalf.
Sydnee Pai, aged 19, and Lisbeth Cheng, aged 24, face charges of two counts of second-degree possession of forged documents, first-degree falsifying business records, illegal voting, first-degree providing false documents, third-degree possession of forged documents, second-degree falsifying business records, and second-degree submitting false documents. Li Zhen Wan, Yee Ping Yam, and Crystal You are each charged with four counts, including second-degree possession of forged documents, first-degree falsifying business records, illegal voting, first-degree providing false documents, third-degree possession of forged documents, second-degree falsifying business records, and providing false second-degree registration documents.
Five out of the six defendants surrendered to the Queens District Attorney’s office on July 25 after the charges were filed.
Katz emphasized, “Our democracy relies on the integrity of polling stations, and we will not allow Queens to be compromised in this regard.”
In the June 2023 20th District City Council Republican primary election between Yu-Ching James Pai and Chen Jin Liang, Pai emerged victorious with a 181-vote margin. In this election, the absentee ballots returned accounted for as much as 90%, with these ballots comprising nearly 70% of the total votes. Chen Jin Liang filed a lawsuit against Yu-Ching James Pai for electoral fraud, but the Queens County Supreme Court dismissed Liang’s lawsuit on August 4, 2023. The ruling stated that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence of the alleged electoral fraud incidents, did not supply any voter names allegedly used for fraudulent voting, and did not present any voters who were proven to have cast fraudulent votes. Despite claiming in the complaint that the allegations of fraud were “known and believed,” there was a lack of sources or basis.
Yu-Ching James Pai mentioned in an interview on July 25 that following the June 2023 primary, the New York State Supreme Court had already dismissed Chen Jin Liang’s lawsuit regarding election fraud. Considering the court had already ruled on a similar case, he expressed confusion as to why the prosecution moved forward after the court’s decision. He stated that neither he nor his team were involved in the activities alleged in the charges.