Fraudulent signatures supporting Mayor Adams' re-election bid reveal lack of official enforcement

To appear on a New York City voter’s ballot, mayoral candidates must submit thousands of signatures to the city’s Board of Elections.

But no election official vets or verifies the names. Instead, the board relies on rival candidates and engaged voters to challenge the forms, known as ballot petitions, within days after they’re submitted.

The lack of official enforcement and oversight allowed Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign to submit documents to appear on November’s ballot with patterns of forgery and fraud that went unnoticed by election watchers, rival candidates, and – according to Adams – his own campaign.

In his independent re-election bid, Adams skipped the Democratic primary and on May 20 turned in nearly 50,000 signatures for a pair of ballot lines. Under city law, challengers had