Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine to stand by election outcome even if Trump claims fraud

Suffolk officials on Friday guaranteed the integrity of the voting process in the county even if a candidate claims fraud, a day before early voting in national and local elections starts.

Officials unveiled a new $2.8 million early voting center in Yaphank that doubles as a training center for poll inspectors, coordinators and other personnel tasked with ensuring election integrity.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said he has won 19 elections in the county during his decadeslong career in politics, and that the balloting system is solid.

"I can tell you from long experience, I have never questioned the veracity, the efficiency and the effectiveness of the Board of Elections," Romaine said. "They have always done a great job ... We give them the tools, and they’ll do the job."

Asked at a news conference what his response would be if former President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, loses New York State in the presidential election and claims it was due to fraud, Romaine said he stood by the system’s integrity.

"The vote is the vote. The count is the count. And the accuracy of the count, I don’t think it’s going to be challenged, certainly not in Suffolk County," Romaine said.

The new center at 700 Yaphank Ave. is being used to train some of the 5,000 poll workers who will oversee the election, officials said. It is one of the larger training centers in the county, they said.

Officials including Romaine and the two commissioners of the Board of Elections — John Alberts for the Democrats and Betty Manzella for the Republicans — said there was little to no chance Suffolk's election system could be tampered with. It’s not possible for a hacker to break into the system because it is not connected to the internet, Manzella said.

When asked how specifically the county is training poll workers to detect and counteract fraud, Manzella said she could not divulge that for security reasons.

The county is in regular contact with the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the New York State Board of Elections and multiple law enforcement agencies, including some of their cybersecurity units, she said. "We are prepared for anything," she said.

The new center can train up to about 100 workers, compared to other locations that fit only 20 to 30, Alberts said. The workers must be certified every year, including on changes in election laws, he said. 

The new center is also aimed at boosting the number of people who vote early, officials said. About 120,000 Suffolk County residents voted early in the 2020 presidential election, Alberts said. That number is expected to rise to about 200,000 this year, he said.

There are 28 early voting centers in the county, including for the first time the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge, Alberts said.

Officials expect a significant number of early voters to use the new center in Yaphank in part because it is centrally located between the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway. The center — and others throughout Suffolk — is also offering weekend, early morning and evening hours to accommodate people’s work schedules.

The county has allocated $35 million to replace all voting machines in Suffolk next year as part of efforts to maintain voting integrity, Romaine said.

Early voting begins Oct. 26 and ends Nov. 3.